Tears and hugs said what words could not as about 250 stranded students taking a special flight arranged by Cathay Pacific were reunited with their families in Hong Kong last night.
The airline has arranged three special flights for students and passengers stuck in snowbound Britain.
The first, with 300 passengers, returned to the city at 7.30pm. The other flights are scheduled for today and tomorrow.
Arriving from Manchester Airport, Francesca Lai, 15, stranded since Friday, said she had asked Cathay to give her priority because of her asthma, but the staff had not responded.
'The airport was in chaos,' she said. 'The airline only arranged a doctor to offer medication in the last two days.'
Kelvin Yip, 18, who was put up in the conference room of a hotel, said he wanted to take a bath and sleep right away. 'The toughest time was having to wait for the ticket. I was really nervous,' he said.
His father said: 'I know it is the weather and has nothing to do with the airline, but the management of Cathay was really poor. They only offered free food on the second day.'
