When a Mexicana flight landed in Denver on Sunday, passengers cheerfully erupted.
They did the same when the plane left the Cancun, Mexico, airport just hours before Hurricane Emily hit.
They left hundreds of others stranded in the Mexican resort town, including some bound for Denver on a canceled Frontier Airlines flight.
“We were the last plane to leave,” said a relieved Elisabeth Walker of South Dakota.
The passengers had spent Sunday waiting in the airport. One minute, they were going to leave, the next, their flight had been canceled. The tension was palpable, said Dan Isaak of Northglenn. He traveled with his wife, Janet, and their daughter Sari, 11.
When the airplane did finally leave the airport, it took Janet Isaak’s breath away.
“The most horrifying thing was the plane turned into the hurricane and went into it,” she said. “I was thankful we were with a Mexicana pilot who probably dealt with hurricanes before. He knew what he was doing.”
The family had been tracking the hurricane for three days.
“The hurricane was right there,” said Sari Isaak, 11. “It was going to hit our hotel.”
Over the weekend, tourists saw locals boarding up windows and tying things down.
“It was scary; we didn’t want to be stranded,” said Sherry Deel of Denver, who traveled with her family to Playa del Carmen for a week.
Those waiting at home were equally worried. In Denver, Mikhail Arzumanov studied the hurricane thinking about his vacationing daughter, Kathy.
He smiled widely when she exited the international terminal Sunday, tan and tired.
“We are very lucky,” he said.
