More than 100 flights were affected on the evening of May 15, causing about 1,000 passengers to wait at the airport until the early hours of the following day.

Passengers were so upset that when airlines provided them with meals, angry passengers threw take-out boxes, bowls of instant noodles, and water bottles at the departure gate counter.

Riot police were eventual called in, and imposed order by forming a human wall.

A Southern China Airlines passenger named Wang gave a detailed personal account of what happened that night. Wang said many of his fellow passengers were upset when their 7:30pm flight was indefinitely delayed with no word from the airline of a rescheduled flight or a cancellation. Instead, he said passengers were kept in the dark until about 11pm when a group of about 20 to 30 passengers began to encircle the airline counter and angrily argue with staff.

Wang described the mounting chaos:

At that time, everybody was asking for compensation, something that is guaranteed by airline regulations. However, no one from the airline staff would take care of that. Instead, other people started complaining about other things: someone said they were hungry and wanted to eat, while another wanted accommodation. It started to get really crazy.

At 11:30pm, the airline began distributing meals to passengers, but for some people this was already too late. After waiting almost five hours after their scheduled flight, passengers were incensed. This is when some passengers threw their meal boxes into the airline service desk area. One fight broke out and equipment was smashed.

In hindsight, Wang thinks the airline should have done a better job of communicating with passengers:

For example, in terms of compensation, food, and accommodation, the airline didn’t have to wait until everyone was angry (before giving them out). When you wait that long, people are going to lose their temper and act out of control.

Wang’s flight was eventually scheduled for 4am. Southern China Airlines passengers were each compensated a total of RMB 200.

Here are more photographs of the chaos:

Related:

• Brawl Breaks Out at Shenzhen Airport Over Flight Delays
• Irate Passengers Break Into Cockpit Over Smog Delays
• Enough with Flight Delays, Consumer Group Says Airlines Need to Compensate Passengers

The post Fights, Smashed Computers, and Food Thrown in Riot at Shenzhen Airport Over Delayed Flights appeared first on The Nanfang.

The dispute broke out in economy class after one women reclined her seat about 30 minutes after takeoff. The two women behind her didn’t like it, and a brief war of words broke out that was settled by a flight attendant. But the foursome apparently sat simmering, because it boiled over five minutes later into a physical altercation complete with hair pulling and kicking.

The fight lasted about two minutes before the two women in the rear seats were moved to the back of the plane. But it was a big enough disturbance at the captain decided to land the plane in Nantong at around 5:15 that afternoon.

Police at Nantong airport arrested the four women, which are being given five days of “administrative detention”.

“The fight between the women posed a severe threat to the safe operation of the aircraft,” a police official said. “They were not acting responsibly towards the safety of the passengers on board.”

The flight was finally able to resume its flight for Shenzhen at 6:24pm.

None of the people involved in the incident have been identified. The women seated in front are described as being in their 30s and were heading to Shenzhen on business. The women behind them were in their 50s and were planning to go vacation in Thailand with their daughters after changing flights in Shenzhen.

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The passenger, identified by his surname Xie, was detained and held for 10 days for “disrupting public order” after threatening to blow-up a plane. Xie became irate after the pilot announced that the flight, which was departing Shenzhen for Nanchang, was to be delayed by an hour.

With the passengers already on the plane, Xie reportedly marched from economy to first-class, yelling at the flight crew and threatening to “blow-up the plane if it did not take off now”. The flight crew took emergency measures and immediately evacuated passengers and crew. Security boarded the plane and detained Xie, who, as a result of his disruption, managed to delay the flight for another hour.

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