Dozens of flights canceled in South Florida, across the country due to bad weather – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

By Judy J. Beasley Last updated Dec 25, 2022

FORT LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) – Over the weekend, dozens of flights were canceled across the country due to bad weather.

As of Monday morning, a total of 23 flights were canceled at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and a total of 100 flights were canceled at Miami International Airport.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, there have been more than 3,800 flight cancellations across the country since Friday and hundreds of delays.

“I was supposed to catch a connecting flight from JFK to Fort Lauderdale at 11am, but it was delayed until 1pm, and I was lucky to catch a flight at 7am,” one traveler said.

“We were traveling to Orlando today, but unfortunately my flight was cancelled,” one traveler said.

“I received a text saying the flight was canceled as we were arriving in LaGuardia,” one woman said.

For Kanika Wilkerson, it has been more than 24 miserable hours.

“Terrible, I’ve never known in my life – and I mean I traveled on Memorial Day,” Wilkerson said. “I’m on my fourth canceled flight.”

After spending a few days celebrating her birthday in Mexico, she spent the last day and a half at Miami International Airport trying to get home to North Carolina. She recorded a video on her cellphone showing the line booking flights Monday for American Airlines at MIA.

There have also been issues for those flying to and from FLL, with Delta delays topping the list of cancellations.

Ten percent of Delta flights have been canceled.

Delta’s Director of Customer Service, Allison Ausband, released a statement that read, “Weather and air traffic control, supplier staffing, rising COVID case rates contributing to unplanned absences higher than expected in some workgroups results in an operation that is not consistently up to the standards that Delta has set for the industry in recent years.

Since Monday night, MIA has become a makeshift hotel for many families just trying to get home.

“It’s very difficult to stay here because it’s on the ground, and we don’t have a lot of things, and we didn’t know the flight had been cancelled,” Isabella Cardoza said.

The family said the airline told them that due to bad weather, their return flight to Honduras was canceled this Memorial Day.

“It’s very stressful,” Cardoza said.

They are certainly not the only ones feeling this stress.

A spokesperson for MIA told 7News they had nearly 170 flights delayed and another 240 cancelled.

“Today won’t happen again,” Vernon Chumdro said. “I have to go find a hotel and maybe come back tomorrow early in the morning.”

Chumdro attempts to return home to the Caribbean after spending the holiday weekend in Atlanta. He said bad weather forced him to catch a later flight out of Georgia, which caused him to miss his connecting flight to Miami.

“When they canceled my flight to Atlanta because of the weather, they said it wasn’t their fault, ‘We’re not going to give accommodations or anything,'” Chumdro said.

Olti Mimani and his friends try to find a way to get back to Boston after his American Airlines flight is canceled.

“They gave us a few options, but it’s Wednesday, and we can’t wait here until Wednesday, so I don’t know. Maybe we’re thinking about renting a car and driving to Boston at this point,” he said. Mimani said.

For now, those whose long weekends have gotten even longer are just hoping for answers soon.

“We have families, I have children, you know, I have to go back. I don’t know if we will see what will happen,” Mimani said.

On the road, high gas prices bother travelers but don’t stop them.

AAA expects this Memorial Day weekend to be the busiest in terms of travel in two years, with 34.9 million people traveling by car, a 4.6% increase from last year. last year.

“It sucks, you know,” said Ruben Llamas who lives in Southern California, “because we have to spend money on Airbnb, your food and now we have to consider travel.

California leads the nation with the highest gas prices at $6.13 per gallon. This exceeds the national average of $4.61, which is the highest ever reported nationally.

A year ago, the national average was just $3.04. There are no signs of a slowdown in price increases.

“I don’t foresee oil prices really falling that dramatically, and if more people hit the road and you have that kind of increase in demand at gas stations, you might see those prices stay high. throughout the summer and into the fall. said AAA spokesman Andrew Gross.