Hundreds of flight cancellations put the brakes on Thanksgiving getaway
Thousands of services delayed or scrapped as snow and rain pummel the northeastern US
A sloppy mix of rain and snow moved across the United States creating havoc for millions of air passengers travelling home for Thanksgiving with cancelled and delayed flights, packed airports and uncomfortable turbulence.
Airlines cancelled 709 flights within, into or out of the US yesterday, and another 4,021 were delayed, according to online plane tracker FlightAware.
Most of the cancelled flights were at New York-area and Philadelphia airports and involved regional carriers operating express flights for major airlines, JetBlue Airways and the Delta Air Lines shuttle between Boston and LaGuardia airport, according to Houston-based FlightAware.
Catie Straut, 25, had the foresight to reschedule her US Airways flight from JFK International yesterday to one that departed at 6.40am local time from nearby Newark today.
Airport security avoided gridlock within the terminal by allowing passengers to keep shoes on and toiletries inside carry on bags, a surprising change on one of the most crowded travel days, Straut said.
The flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, "was two hours of turbulence", she said. The captain told passengers that because of the storm, there was no smooth air between 5,800 metres and 11,900 metres, Straut said. It was "really, really stressful, a really, really tense atmosphere," she said.