Hundreds of Australian Jetstar passengers were reportedly stranded at an airport in Japan with no beds and hardly any food after a Cairns-bound flight was delayed for more than 40 hours.
The flight was due to leave on Tuesday at 9pm (local time) but did not leave until Thursday around 4.15pm (local time).
The trapped travellers were forced to spend an uncomfortable first night at Osaka's Kansai International Airport as temperatures outside fell below zero and the airport's heating was switched off, Nine News reports.
Tony Zammit, whose sister Kate was one of the stranded passengers, said: "The first night, due to snowfall, passengers had to sleep in the airport waiting room. At 5am, staff finally provided a blanket, a muesli bar and one small bottle of water in a freezing room."
A spokesperson for Jetstar told Nine that "due to heavy snowfall... our crew couldn't reach the airport which meant customers already there couldn't leave".
The following day, passengers were lining up and staff were even checking tickets - but "without any announcement from Jetstar, the plane kept getting delayed", Zammit said.
"Staff told passengers to wait another 20 minutes and 20 minutes became several hours before being cancelled at 9pm."
That night, passengers were allowed to leave the airport and find a hotel with the airline covering some costs.
Passengers were told the flight would depart 10am on Thursday, Zammit said, but it finally departed that afternoon.
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