MOSCOW — Pretty much all seasoned travelers know the frustration of flight delays — the time wasted puttering in an airport, waiting in a hotel room or, perhaps worst of all, stuck on the tarmac in an idled plane.

But how about three days stranded in Siberia?

That was the nightmare experienced by the passengers and crew of Air France Flight 116 this week, when their Boeing 777 was diverted to the city of Irkutsk on Sunday, about 2,600 miles east of Moscow, after an acrid smell and light smoke wafted through the cabin.

The 282 passengers sat on the plane for some six hours before being allowed to disembark.

But a chilly reception then awaited — both literally (at one point it was around 1 degree Fahrenheit, or minus 17 Celsius, outside) and figuratively, with passengers forced to stay within the confines of the airport or two hotels where they were put up because they lacked entry visas. Initially, they were denied access to their luggage as well.

To make matters worse, a second Boeing 777 sent from Paris to pick up the passengers, who were traveling from the French capital to Shanghai, also broke down before takeoff in Irkutsk as the hydraulic system froze. That led to another long wait on the tarmac in Siberia, before the passengers were once again told to deplane.