SYRACUSE -- The Blizzard of 2010 has wreaked havoc on travelers nationwide, and although we didn’t see much snow here, many people in Central New York have not been spared headaches from that storm.
At Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, spokeswoman Christina Reale says several more flights were cancelled Tuesday morning. According to the airport’s website, those flights were scheduled to go to Newark, New York City and Philadelphia. Many other flights were delayed.
Airport officials say some airlines are putting people up in hotels for now, one of them being the Holiday Inn Express on South Bay Road right by the airport.
Holiday Inn Express General Manager Conrad Struzik says he sees the extra business as a positive thing. Airlines booked fifty rooms, and Struzik called in extra staff.
"The hotel does better, the housekeepers get to keep working, puts a little more money in their pockets," says Struzik. "Hopefully, it has rippled out into the community."
It appears it has. The Clam Bar restaurant in North Syracuse depends on customers who come from the airport, and this week has been a bonus.
"Many, many people come in," says Helga Bertsch from the Clam Bar. "They park their luggage, and they eat, and they hang, sometimes for a long time, until their flight gets out."
Some airlines have also been looking for help from other forms of transportation. In an effort to get stranded travelers out of Syracuse and on their way home, JetBlue sent some passengers to their destinations in a chartered bus.
Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky, so to speak. Some people have been told they will have to wait until Thursday or Friday at the earliest for a flight out of town.
More on this story from the Associated Press:
Two magic words, "on time," are appearing on some airport departure boards in New York City.
But it's still unclear how many passengers will actually make it out on Tuesday.
Among the lucky ones at LaGuardia Airport was Tiffany Bunton of Fort Worth, Texas. But exhaustion from spending two nights at a hotel dampened any excitement she felt.
Bunton said, "I don't know if I ever want to go on vacation again."
Traveler Shiv Kumar was supposed to fly home to Chicago on Sunday but had two flights canceled and is on standby Tuesday at LaGuardia.
If he doesn't make it, Kumar says, "I'll start driving."
It isn't all coming up roses. Passengers on three flights arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport have spent hours on the tarmac waiting to disembark.
Travelers on one Cathay Pacific flight said they waited 10 hours on the tarmac before leaving the plane Tuesday morning. A passenger on a second Cathay Pacific flight said it was still waiting to deplane at 1:15 p.m., nearly eight hours after landing.
Cathay Pacific did not return calls seeking comment.
A British Airways flight spent more than seven hours overnight on the JFK tarmac. Airline spokesman John Lampl says the flight needed to wait that long for an open gate at the terminal.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman said the airport was pulling workers off snow removal duty to help the planes.
All flights were suspended Sunday night during a storm that dumped 20 inches of snow on the metropolitan area.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
