Travel

Travelers experience airport delays, cancellations amid Memorial Day storms

Published

6 months ago

May 28, 2024

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Travelers experience airport delays, cancellations amid Memorial Day storms

EAST ELMHURST, Queens (WABC) — One after another they emerged from the gloom on Monday night: a parade of fully loaded airlines, not a single one on time, touching down after a long travel day at the end of Memorial Day weekend.

But the people on those planes were at least getting where they wanted to go.

“We’re getting tested pretty good right now, I’d say so,” said Joe Kiselak, a stranded passenger.

Kiselak and Megan Strader haven’t gone anywhere — they’re trying to get home to Tennessee.

“There was never even a plane here,” Strader said.

Their flight was cancelled because the plane they were waiting for was also cancelled, part of a domino effect that plagued the nation’s air traffic system all weekend.

The severe weather over the holiday weekend didn’t help matters at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where a plane engine caught fire on the tarmac on Monday.

Meanwhile, strong storms all but shut down other key air hubs in Dallas and Atlanta, all of it when the TSA reported record-high passenger numbers.

On Friday alone, the agency screened nearly three million passengers — an all-time high for a holiday.

Monday’s return to reality was bumpy, especially at the Tri-State’s big three airports, including at LaGuardia Airport, where there were 449 delays and 176 cancellations.

Eyewitness News found Kiselak and Strader at LaGuardia’s baggage claim, pondering thoughts about the hecticness of U.S. air travel this year.

“I just want to know how they lost the bags if the flight didn’t even take off, I mean to me that’s pretty crazy. You know you’d think, no plane, how can they lose the bags,” Kiselak said.

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