The continued ban on flights to the US has left world travelers across Asia in limbo, many stranded half a world from home and growing increasingly impatient.
Diego Robino, 24, of Uruguay, was tired, penniless and homesick, after being stranded in Hong Kong since Thursday while returning home from the University Games in Beijing.
"I'm totally out of money and I feel tired," Robino said. "I feel sad. I've been sleeping in the airport and it feels rough."
"Things here are expensive. I've been eating in McDonald's all the time and I'm really sick of it," said Robino, who was among about 20 people pleading with staff at the United Airlines counter in Hong Kong's airport yesterday.
Meanwhile, passengers who had been stranded in the US after Tuesday's suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon began trickling back to Asia.
A Japan Airlines flight from New York landed at Narita International Airport Friday evening, the first return flight from New York to Tokyo following the attacks.
"I was so frightened I couldn't sleep. You could hear the fighters from the sky over Manhattan," said Ann Suzukawa of Tokyo, one of the first people to return from New York.
"I was afraid something else would happen, it was so hard, hearing my kids crying on the phone from Japan. I was so relieved when the plane touched down here," said Suzukawa, a translator.
For many travelers stuck in Asia, the flight disruptions meant living on fast food or running up huge credit card bills as they hunted for alternative routes to get home. Robino, originally due to fly home via Chicago and Buenos Aires, said he was hoping to board a flight for Sydney that would take him through New Zealand and Argentina, and finally home.
But Australian air traffic was in total chaos yesterday, with little of the turmoil linked to Tuesday's attacks. Ansett, Australia's second largest airline, had collapsed in the early hours of the morning.
Among the more than 7,000 passengers stranded in Hong Kong were nine American families trying to return home after adopting babies from mainland China.
New Yorkers Shirley Be, 45, a university administrator, and Virgilio De Carvalho, 49, a consultant, flew in Thursday from Guangzhou on their way home to Los Angeles.
"I'm anxious to be home," said Be. "I feel the baby should be in a calmer environment."
The couple worried that they might not get home before the visa for their new daughter, Anna, expires on Sept. 20.
Airline officials said they had stepped up security, but refused to give specifics. Special police, clad in blue uniforms and carrying submachine guns, were patrolling in the check-in areas for North American flights.
Passengers on flights arriving in Asia from the US said security was so tight that no plastic knives, nail clippers or any type of cutters were allowed on board.
In Hong Kong and elsewhere, regional carriers said they were awaiting permission from US aviation authorities to resume flights to North America.
American authorities were first focusing on rescheduling flights that were disrupted Tuesday when all US air travel was halted following the attacks.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways canceled 32 flights to and from the US yesterday.
Hong Kong's Airport Authority said in a statement that 20 out of 30 flights to and from the US and Canada were canceled yesterday, while five were delayed. Three other flights were pending further announcements.
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