Winter flight chaos now hits Moscow

Thousands of passengers are still suffering travel chaos as the worst winter weather for years continues to turn departure lounges into refugee camps.

At Russia’s biggest airport, Domodedovo in Moscow, icy rain and power blackouts have halted flights for a third straight day, leaving passengers stranded and forced to sleep where they could.

Food shortages added to the misery as Russian prosecutors announced a major investigation.

“There is no information on the flights’ timetable,” complained one passenger. “It is complete chaos and impossible to understand anything, how to return tickets, for example. Nobody is giving any information.”

In Paris, the Christmas hangover is also kicking in.

Charles De Gaulle Airport has over 10,000 items of lost luggage to process.

One Canadian passenger described the situation as “diabolical.”

“How can 10cm of snow cause such chaos,” she asked. “It is not normal. In Montreal we are used to having 30 or 40 cm of snow and everything still works.”

Air France say they will endeavour to deliver as many bags as they can by New Year’s Eve.

As the snow begins to melt across Western Europe, many passengers are looking back at lost Christmases as well as lost luggage.

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