and if the flight is operated by an international carrier, the rules don't apply at all. but right now holiday travelers continue to suffer. i sat down with this family, dad, max, and his children, 15-year-old emily and 13-year-old nicholas, were all on that cathay flight from hell. max, let's start with you. you were on the tarmac at jfk for, what, 11 hours? plus the flight time which was more than five hours. so, really, almost 17 hours. >> that's right. >> on an airplane. what was the mood like on that plane? >> well, it was, you know, pretty passive initially. i was quite surprised at how everyone was acceptable to what was going on. but obviously after we landed at 2:15 a.m. and expecting to get off, we were told we'd have to wait for an hour. then the hour passed and the pilot came on saying sorry, looks like it might be another two hours. two hours would pass, and then