- Text
Air travelers face more delays post-Irene
Last Updated 10:55 a.m. ET
NEW YORK — Many travelers heading to and from the East Coast still face days of delays, even as airlines start flying again Monday at major airports that closed for Tropical Storm Irene.
Airports in the New York area are open again now that Irene has left town, and airports around Washington, Philadelphia and Richmond, Va., have resumed flights. But the long closure of J.F.K., LaGuardia and Newark Liberty Airports means travel delays will continue rippling across the country.
Flight tracking service FlightAware said there are nearly 1,500 cancelled flights on Monday, adding to the nearly 12,000 grounded this weekend. That tops record cancellations seen with a pair of massive snow storms this winter.
There's no easy way to squeeze all those displaced passengers onto scheduled flights. Finding open seats will be especially difficult this week because it's the last gasp of the summer vacation season.
"We're coming into the Labor Day holiday weekend, so a lot of those flights are already full," said Todd Lehmacher, a spokesman for US Airways.
FlightAware's Flight Tracker
Passenger rights if Irene canceled your flight
Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong's biggest airline, said it is adding extra flights to and from New York City this week to help clear the backlog caused by Tropical Storm Irene.
Airlines won't say how many passengers have been grounded since Irene came ashore in North Carolina on Saturday.
FlightAware put the total of affected travelers at around 650,000, noting that many of the flights canceled were on regional airlines that use small planes. Some travel experts suggested much larger numbers — 1 million or more.
East Coast's Irene cleanup to take days
CBS News' complete coverage: Hurricane Irene
For many, the waiting continues this morning, even though Irene is long gone. All three New York area airports are now up and running. The smaller Stewart International Airport in New York City's northern suburbs was to resume flights Monday. Teterboro in New Jersey suffered flooding and remains closed.
If you're traveling to or from the Atlantic seaboard, expect limited service at best. Some airlines, like Continental and United, have announced they won't be resuming flights in New York until noon at the earliest.
Delta, American, JetBlue, Southwest, AirTran and US Airways have also canceled Monday-morning flights to the New York and Boston areas.
And ground transport alternatives remain limited, with bus and train service disrupted into Monday as well along the East Coast.
Airlines also moved several hundred planes out of the storm's path to avoid damage, which will further slow the return to normal service.
In New England, Portland International Jetport remained open Sunday, but nearly all flights for the day and some scheduled for Monday morning had been canceled, city officials said. All flights from Bangor International Airport were canceled Sunday.
Airlines said passengers should call ahead and make sure they have a confirmed seat before going to the airport, but the 670 flights that FlightAware said airlines had canceled for Monday is a small share of the nation's daily flights.
When blizzards hit the East Coast in December and February, it took some passengers days to get home. That could happen again.
- 1
- 2
- Next Page »
- Irene hits NYC, flooding streets
- Impacts from Irene, state by state
- Irene turns Times Square into giant slip 'n slide
- Virginia boy, Florida surfer among 37 Irene deaths
- Irene creates chest-deep floodwaters in Norfolk, Va.
- 5-year-old dies after SUV slides into Idaho lake
- NYers (remarkably) don't complain after Irene
- School superintendent gives up $800K in pay
- Irene makes landfall in N.C.; 4 deaths reported
- Caught on Tape: Irene slams Kill Devil Hills, NC
- Passenger rights if Irene canceled your flight
- Aerial video shows extent of Irene flooding
- Colo. grave digger fired for dancing on grave
- Irene waves take down L.I. reporter on live TV
- "West Memphis Three" freed after 18 years
- Warren Jeffs in medically induced coma
- Irene's catastrophic flooding hits Mass. town
- Boeing to redesign 737 engine amid competition
- Consumer confidence drops almost 15 pts in August
- Consumer confidence drops almost 15 pts in August
- Consumer confidence in August drops to the lowest level since April 2009
on Facebook
- Small NY town feels Irene's "devastating" wrath
- "Dancing With the Stars 2011" cast leaked: See who's waltzing this season
- Irene surprises upstate NY town
- Cutest father-daughter acoustic duo cover Adele's "Rolling In The Deep"
- Ron Paul: I don't accept the theory of evolution
on CBS News
