AFP
New York
A deadly winter storm that walloped a large swath of the United States wreaked havoc Saturday at several airports, with passengers arriving in New York complaining of being stranded on the tarmac for hours.
A"bomb cyclone" that raked the northeastern part of the country with heavy snowfall, glacial temperatures and high winds had forced the cancellation earlier in the week of thousands of flights, and caused thousands more delays.
Although flights had resumed at New York's John F. Kennedy airport, passengers on Air China 989 from Beijing were forced to wait seven hours to deplane, flight tracking site Flightradar24 tweeted.
"But there are more new flights that landed at JFK this morning, parked with passengers waiting to deplane," the website said.
A passenger with the Twitter handle @jennimonet said in a post:"Free at last! After a 14-hour flight from Beijing, and another 7-hours stranded on the @JKFairport TarMac, passengers aboard @airchina Flight #CA989 are deplaning. The next concern is lengthy customs lines. Our flight was just one of many that landed, but without a gate assigned."
Late Friday, a passenger with the Twitter name @thechrismendez said:"Been stuck on tarmac for over 3 hours at JFK Alitalia flight 8604. Multiple passengers seeking medical attention.