Flight cancellations after US storms dump snow
Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed on Tuesday, one day after powerful storms swept across the eastern half of the country and upended air travel in a cross-section of cities.
Travellers have been facing additional jams at airport security checkpoints as a partial Government shutdown strains screener staffing. The disruptions come at an already challenging time for air travel, in part because the shutdown that began February 14 has pressured staffing at some security checkpoints.
At the same time, airports are crowded with spring break travellers and fans heading to March Madness games, the annual NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.
More than 750 flights scheduled to fly into, out of or within the US have been called off as of early Tuesday, and about 1,300 were delayed, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.
Flight delays and cancellations piled up Monday at some of the nation’s largest airports, including those in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. The storm system that dumped heavy snow across the Midwest raced toward the East Coast with high winds reaching gusts near 50 mph (80 km) in parts of New York, the National Weather Service said. Kelly Price, who was trying to get home to Colorado after a family vacation in Orlando, Florida, said her Sunday night flight wasn’t cancelled until early Monday.
“By that time, the only place for us to sleep was the airport floor. So we’re all tired and frustrated,” she said, adding that the soonest she and her family could book another flight doesn’t leave until Tuesday afternoon.
The nationwide cancellations on Monday included about 600 in and out of Chicago O’Hare International, more than 470 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International and over 450 at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, according to Flight Aware.
Citing severe weather, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered ground stops at Hartsfield-Jackson and Charlotte Douglas International Airport and ground delays at JFK and Newark Liberty International Airport. Danielle Cash found herself stranded in St. Louis on Sunday while trying to get home to Tampa, Florida, after a weekend girls’ trip to Las Vegas.
