East coast blizzards bring west coast travel headaches
LINDBERGH FIELD – Long lines of people inside the airport waiting to re-book flights. Lines that simply aren't moving.
Long lines outside the airport as well… lines that aren't moving either.
And long lines of cars just trying to drop off passengers. Passengers who say this travel day is…
“A nightmare,” laughs Stanley Williams, one of many whose flight was canceled. “The only upside to it is that we're still in this weather I guess.”
Bad weather on the east coast has snarled airline traffic across the entire country. Snowstorms and tundra-like temperatures have forced the cancellation of over 22,000 flights nationwide. And by the end of business day Friday, San Diego's own Lindbergh Field reported 80 delayed flights, and five canceled flights, with some saying they're not going to get out of here until Sunday.
“I tried to get another flight for us, which will be tomorrow, possibly the following day,” says traveler Steve Dimi, whose flight was canceled. “The dilemma is that we're not knowing what are we going to do, since everything has been delayed constantly.”
“It's really bothering us,” says young passenger Zach Eaton, “we don't have anywhere to go, we're just standing in this long line (and) we're not getting anywhere.”
But with temperatures in San Diego sitting comfortably in the 80s, some are looking on the bright side.
“We got here, started doing our boarding passes and everything, got halfway through it, the automated system cut in and said our flight got canceled,” says Nathan Ridgeway, on his way home to Indiana. “So we get to hang out in 70° weather rather than going back to a foot of snow.
“I'm not complaining, you know, palm trees are better than pine trees.”
“Don't sweat the small stuff, it's kind of small stuff,” says Leslie Zeigenhorn, also grounded by a canceled flight. “So what, kids miss a day of school? Make a snow angel.”
Having a good attitude and smiling instead of smirking might be the key to surviving air travel out of and into Lindbergh Field this entire weekend.
And here's why – current forecasts say it's going to be foggy, and yet another winter storm could wallop the east coast triggering even more travel air delays.
Best advice: check your flight's status on your airlines website so you don't waste a bunch of time just sitting around.
John Soderman
KUSI News
