First Person | Yang Moli

Editor's note: Yang Moli, a 26-year-old Kunming resident, talked to China Daily reporter Zheng Xin about her experience of being stranded at the local airport for 36 hours.

Despite being born in this city, this is truly the first time I have been so desperate to leave my hometown.

I went home to Kunming from Guangzhou on Dec 31 to celebrate the New Year with my family. But the flight I was to take to return to work turned out to be the longest journey of my life.

After three days at home, I arrived at the Kunming Changshui International Airport early on Thursday morning to catch a flight scheduled to take off at noon. After getting my boarding pass, I was informed of a one-hour flight delay. I turned on my computer to kill time, as flight delays have recently been frequent.

But the airplane that I was about to board, CZ3410, didn't arrive, even after several announcements were made concerning its delay. It finally landed in another city, like many other airplanes that were scheduled to land in Kunming, because of heavy fog and poor visibility in the city.

Then came numerous announcements about delays and cancellations, and the airport gradually filled up with stranded passengers, who were tired, furious, helpless and anxious.

After hours of waiting, people began to scramble for food and water when the airport staff handed them out. The smell of ham sausage and instant noodles filled the hall. For a moment, I felt like I was in a crowded waiting room at a shabby railway station 10 years ago.

As more and more passengers arrived at the airport, it was impossible to find a seat because the cafe and dining places were too packed to squeeze into. Hours later, the stairs and the floor were full of exhausted stranded passengers.

The temperature in the airport started dropping after sunset. In addition to the blankets provided by the airport, passengers started searching for whatever they could find to keep warm.

Many passengers were not prepared and had to resort to hot water to stay warm. It took me some 40 minutes standing in line to make myself a cup of hot tea. However, you couldn't drink too much because the restroom was also crowded.

It started getting more noisy in the airport as some upset passengers complained and protested. People yelled out in dissatisfaction about the delay and demanded compensation for their losses. I just sat by a corner of a wall. I didn't know when I could get on a plane and fly back to work.

The airport turned into a garbage dump, with the packaging from food and other rubbish everywhere.

The airline sent us to a hotel downtown to get some rest around 6 pm, after being trapped for eight hours. The hotel, despite being freezing cold, at least provided me with a place to rest. We were told not to leave the hotel because the airplane might come at any time.

But it did not show up that day.

We were informed early the next morning that a plane was about to fly to Guangzhou around 10 am. But after we arrived at the airport, I was shocked at the sight of the stranded passengers, packed together like sardines. People cut into the line for hot water and snapped up instant noodles and beverages from the airport stores, the price of which had doubled within a day.

The whole airport was a mess, with people becoming stressed and frantic after being trapped for too long.

I burst into tears when I was told of the boarding around 6 pm. People cheered in jubilation around me, happy to finally be getting home.

I bet this will prove to be the longest journey of my life.

(China Daily 01/07/2013 page3)