My wife used to work with a guy who recently moved to another hospital. The other day he took a trip to Hong Kong. She got an email from him, he told everyone about his ordeal trying to get into Hong Kong. His flight was diverted to another city, where they couldn't debark the plane due to immigration issues. They spent 10 hours there waiting for fuel, and a replacement aircrew. Over 30 hours they were on that plane. I haven't found anything in the news that talks about his particular flight.
Here are some news reports I found after a preliminary search...


Heavy fog disrupts air traffic in Hong Kong
www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-06 23:50:23

HONG KONG, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Thirteen flights due to arrive in Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday morning were delayed up to more than 10 hours because of heavy fog and low visibility, the Hong Kong Airport Authority said Sunday.

The airport had resumed normal operation by Sunday evening after all the flights returned, said the authority.

On Sunday evening, Cathay Pacific, the largest Hong Kong-based airline company, confirmed that a total of its 10 flights were diverted to other cities because of the heavy fog in the airport Sunday morning.

Three passenger flights were diverted to Taipei, another 5 passenger flights and one freighter were diverted to Guangzhou and one other passenger flight was diverted to Manila, according to a statement from the company.

All the flights have returned to Hong Kong despite their delay ranging from 1 hour and 39 minutes to 11 hours 55 minutes, according to the statement.

The company apologized to all the passengers concerned for the delay and said it had made compensation to passengers from two of the flights because of their long delay.

Due to the late arrival of the aircraft into Hong Kong, a number of flights from Hong Kong on Monday will also be delayed from 2 hours to about 5 hours, said Cathay Pacific.

The flights expected to be delayed on Monday include one from Hong Kong to Taipei and Tokyo, one to Los Angeles and one to London.

Due to the heavy fog, two freighter ships collided in southern Hong Kong waters on Sunday morning, but there have been no reports of human casualties so far.

Then there is this...

Cathay Pacific apologizes for foggy delay in HK flight

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The China Post news staff


TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Cathay Pacific Airways formally apologized yesterday for the 11-hour delay in a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong on Sunday.

T.Y. Cheng, Cathay Pacific spokesman, said the airline company deeply regrets that its CX463 flight had to make an unexpected landing at Guangzhou because of heavy fog.

"We wish to offer our sincere apology," Cheng said.

With 180 passengers aboard, the Cathay Pacific jetliner took off from Taipei at 6:25 a.m. When it reached Hong Kong, fog prevented it from landing. It landed at Guangzhou's Baiyun airport instead.

All passengers, most of them Taiwan nationals, were allowed to get off the plane to wait inside the Baiyun terminal. Their plane took off from Guangzhou at 6 p.m. and landed in Hong Kong an hour later.

Cheng said the plane had to be refueled and the crew changed at Guangzhou, while Cathay Pacific was making a new request for a flight from the Chinese mainland city to the former British crown colony.

"It took time," Cheng explained for the delay.

Each passenger on board CX463 flight was presented with three US$75 coupons. But 40 passengers from Taiwan who missed their connections at Hong Kong demanded compensation for staying overnight at the former colony.

They refused to get off the plane at Guangzhou and stayed on board for a couple of hours before they were persuaded to leave.