Chaos at Sheremetyevo: Kids Sleeping on Floors, Adults Desperately Chanting ‘Where’s Our Luggage?’
Moscow’s Snowmageddon: A City Paralyzed
On January 9, 2026, Moscow and its surrounding areas were hit by the heaviest snowfall in 70 years. Cyclone Francis brought not just a snowstorm, but a full-blown blizzard that crippled roads and transportation hubs within hours. Airports began experiencing delays in the afternoon, but by evening, the situation had spiraled into complete chaos.
Sheremetyevo: The Epicenter of Chaos
Sheremetyevo, the country’s largest airport, became the epicenter of this chaos. Arriving planes couldn’t reach the terminals due to snowdrifts, and there weren’t enough jet bridges or buses for passengers. People were forced to stay in their planes for hours, sometimes up to half a day. One flight from Hurghada, unable to land in Moscow, was redirected to Nizhny Novgorod. There, passengers on a Boeing 777 were trapped on board from 6 a.m. without food and with limited working toilets. The crew could only promise information ‘after 10 a.m.’
A Colleague’s Ordeal
Our colleague, returning to Moscow from Volgograd, also found herself trapped in this snow-induced nightmare. ‘We were supposed to leave Volgograd at 9:00 p.m. We took off at 3:30 a.m. and never made it to Sheremetyevo. First, we were directed to Vnukovo. We circled for about 40 minutes, but it was also closed. Eventually, we landed in Domodedovo. But even there, we weren’t allowed off the plane for half an hour because there was no bus. To top it all off, we didn’t take a taxi home but an express train. A taxi would have cost 4500 rubles. So, we decided to try all kinds of transport! We only got home by 9 a.m.,’ shared a Woman.ru editor.
The Baggage Collapse
Those who managed to get into the terminal faced another challenge: the baggage system had collapsed. Several conveyor belts weren’t working. Luggage started appearing only 6-8 hours after arrival, and it was handed out chaotically, at different counters, and without any announcements. Some exhausted passengers, unable to wait any longer, simply went home without their bags.
A Night of Desperation
By night, the tension in the arrival hall had reached its peak. Hundreds of people, including the elderly and families with young children, had gathered around the baggage carousels. Many had reached their breaking point. Driven to despair by the long wait, passengers staged a revolt, chanting in unison, ‘Where’s our luggage?! Where’s our luggage?!’ Conflicts with airport staff began to flare up in the heated atmosphere. Sports teams, such as the hockey team Zvezda, had to wait for their equipment for over 12 hours.
A Night in the Terminal
Thousands of tourists spent the night of January 9-10 in the terminal. For the first time in a long while, it resembled not an airport, but an improvised refugee camp. Children and adults slept on the cold tiled floor, using their jackets, bags, or travel mats as mattresses. There weren’t enough benches and chairs for everyone. Some tried to settle near the shops. The flight information display board froze, showing data relevant only to 1 a.m.
The Aftermath
Overnight, airport management banned flights from landing until 10 a.m., leading to a new wave of delays and cancellations. By morning, the number of grounded flights had exceeded a hundred. Attempts to clear the terminal led airlines to collect passengers’ addresses for luggage delivery, effectively admitting they couldn’t handle the situation on-site.
Basic Comforts Denied
Problems weren’t limited to luggage. Passengers complained about running out of drinking water on some planes, and promised meals never arrived. The situation in the terminal wasn’t much better: passengers on a flight from Yekaterinburg were promised sandwiches, but the promise was never fulfilled.
Recovery Begins
Only by noon on January 10, as the snowfall finally eased, did Sheremetyevo’s operations slowly begin to return to normal. Restrictions were lifted, and flights started operating on a revised schedule. Luggage finally began to move along the conveyor belts in a more organized manner. However, the aftermath of this snow apocalypse, which paralyzed the country’s main air hub for a day, will take more than a day to resolve. Many passengers are still waiting for their suitcases, and airlines have to restore their schedules and pay compensations for the disrupted plans.
