Travelers at SFO cope with long delays after Asiana crash
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two of four runways remained closed at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday as an odyssey that began Saturday continued for many travelers, with dozens of flights canceled or rerouted.
At the international terminal, sleeping passengers wrapped in coats were curled on the floor early Sunday. Throughout the morning, lines grew longer as travelers sought a way out of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Nathan Manser, 35, of Houghton, Mich., was grumbling in a sing-song voice about Delta’s poor customer service as he pushed a luggage cart into a corner. His wife waited in line, desperate for a flight to Minneapolis to make an evening work obligation.
The couple had been traveling for 24 hours -- from Indonesia to Singapore to Tokyo and then to San Francisco -- before landing in the middle of the controlled chaos here.
They were lucky to make it onto the Tokyo flight -- the only one of three to San Francisco that had not been canceled. But by Sunday late morning they were unable to find a way home for at least a day, even through Oakland, San Jose or Sacramento.
“The ripple effect is happening,” said Manser, a PhD student at the University of South Florida who spends summers at home.
Meanwhile, Lorraine Boath, 55, of Scotland took a philosophical approach to her ordeal. She and her family had arrived at the airport Saturday afternoon after a delightful coast-to-coast U.S. trip, and after nightfall were miraculously able to board their Virgin Atlantic flight for London.
Then they sat on the runway for eight hours before deplaning.
“There was a problem with the plane,” she said. “It developed a fuel leak.”
Still, like many here Sunday, Boath was happy to be alive and healthy, given the disaster.
“These things happen,” she said with a shrug and a twinkle. “You can’t grumble.”
Meanwhile Sunday, the San Francisco Police Department put out a call to media outlets for any aerial footage of the Asiana disaster that they would be willing to share. “We will make arrangements to get the CD or DVD,” said Officer Gordon Shyy. “This will be useful for our portion of the investigation.”
Asiana Airlines issued an apology for the crash, which occurred at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, killing two and injuring dozens of others.
“I sincerely apologize over the accident, and to the passengers on board and their families,” Yoon Young-doo, Asiana’s president, told reporters at a televised news conference in Seoul.
He described the pilots involved as “skilled” and said it could take time to determine what went wrong.
On Saturday night, all 307 on board had been accounted for, authorities said. A total of 182 people had been transported to hospitals, including 49 in serious condition. Among the passengers were 77 Korean citizens, 141 Chinese, 61 Americans and one Japanese, according to South Korea-based Asiana.
Asiana Airlines identified the two passengers killed in the crash as 16-year-old girls from China. Asiana Flight 214 originated in Shanghai and stopped in Seoul before flying to San Francisco International Airport.
The bodies of the teens were found on the runway, said San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White. It was not clear whether they had been pulled from the plane or ejected.
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