The situation at airports across the country during the holiday season has been inconvenient, to say the least, for many travelers. | PxHere.com
The situation at airports across the country during the holiday season has been inconvenient, to say the least, for many travelers. | PxHere.com
Mother Nature threw a wrench into many people's holiday travel plans last week, leaving thousands scurrying to make alternate plans or forgo visits altogether, and the trend continued Tuesday as airlines were scrambling.
“There were thousands of people stuck in the airports,” Rex Sladek, an air traveler who finally arrived at Raleigh Durham International Airport (RDU), told WRAL News. “I couldn’t make any flights because they were all full for the next three days.”
Widespread cancellations, especially among Southwest Airlines flights, continued into Tuesday. A departure board in Terminal 1 at RDU showed 74% of Southwest flights canceled Tuesday, just a few of the 2,500 that the airline canceled nationwide.
Airlines began cancelling large numbers of flights starting last week, mostly related to the Arctic blast that swept across the nation, bringing high winds and precipitation. The shuffle of flights forced Sladek to spend an extra day in Texas, so he missed Christmas with his family. By Tuesday, he was back in Raleigh but his luggage was not.
“My luggage is stuck someplace else,” he told WRAL News. “It’s just a whole mess.”
The bone-chilling cold and snowfalls that created drifts several feet deep wreaked havoc on holiday travel. Southwest Airlines, trying to get passengers to hubs in Atlanta and Nashville, offered to charter buses for those willing to hit the highway on Monday.
Karen Buster, who wanted to get to Nashville on Monday, was already through security when the announcement came, where an airline representative “announced if they could get 30 people on the Atlanta and Nashville buses, they are good to go within the hour."
The charter was scheduled to leave by 5 p.m. for the eight-hour drive. Eric Ford was among about a dozen who opted for the ride.
"There’s nothing else I can do, except sit on this bus to get back home,” he said, according to WRAL News.
Others who stood in line to get rebooked were learning that the only flights available were still days into the future.
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