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London-Bound Airline Passengers Stranded In NYC

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- With so many international flights delayed or canceled, thousands of airline passengers are grounded worldwide, including in the tri-state.

Some stranded passengers have been mulling around John F. Kennedy Airport for hours, even days, hoping to get booked on a flight back to the snow-ravaged United Kingdom, reports CBS 2's Scott Rapoport.

"All I've been told is the next flight I can get is on the 27th of December," Carina Topham said.

"I'm only 18, I'm all by myself here, I've got no family here," student Jasmin Sandar said. "It's been three days now that I've been waiting to get a flight back home."

At nearby airport hotels, hundreds of frustrated flyers have put their holiday plans on hold, desperately trying to get a flight out.

"We have other connecting flights, we have other hotel reservations," Jen MacIntyre said. "If they can't confirm, they're going to charge me all this money for the hotel, whether I get there or not."

Robert Bruce and his family are booked on a cruise out of Southampton, England, and they've been trying to fly there for three days.

"That cruise leaves tomorrow, and we're just hoping that we make it," Bruce said. "If we don't, we're out of luck."

In some cases, the stories are truly heartbreaking.

"I have a mentally and physically handicapped child at home that needs 24-hour care, and I've been away for two weeks," London resident Nicole Obertelli said.

For now, there are hundreds of weary souls stranded at local airports, terminally tired and waiting – and waiting.

Light snow is in the forecast in London through Wednesday morning.

Heathrow Airport reopened Monday, but limited arrivals and departures were expected there.

Other airports around Europe have had some flight disruptions, but nothing on the scale of the U.K.

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