Funviralpark The 112.7 million Americans that the AAA predicted to travel for Christmas last week were definitely down by another forecast (weather forecast).
The AAA’s initial projections for Americans traveling more than 50 miles from home between Friday and January 2 put 3.6 million more people than last holiday season, with the Christmas holidays coming in 2018. It must have been the third most traveled since then. AAA started tracking him in 2000.
About 7.2 million people were expected to fly, but more than 4,600 flights to and from U.S. airports were canceled due to Friday’s winter blast, according to tracking site FlightAware.
At Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on Friday morning, more than 70 arrivals and 85 departures were canceled from 7:45 a.m. to midnight, with some being significantly delayed.
Pittsburgh International Airport has approximately 17 flights scheduled to arrive between 8:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., including flights from Key West, New York, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, Charlotte, Nashville and Boston. has been canceled. As of Friday morning, approximately 14 flights scheduled between 9:45am and 1:50pm have also been cancelled.
Warren’s Judy Rapola left on a plane in Pittsburgh Friday morning and hoped to be on the beach in St. Thomas for her family’s Christmas vacation by evening, but thanks to Winterstorm Elliott, that’s not the case. There was no.
LaPolla, her husband Ken, her son and his girlfriend were stranded on the tarmac after the gears of the load belt machine froze. Hours later, after further complications, their plane took off in a snowstorm. In the face of turbulence, a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, was rerouted to a small regional airport in Columbia, South Carolina, Rapola said.
“We were rocking. Actually. I was scared,” she said.
Passengers were given the option to disembark at Columbia, but were not allowed to board again. The LaPola family sat tight while the shuttle ferried other passengers from the plane to the airport. Eventually, they were cleared for his short 20-minute flight to Charlotte, where he missed St. I noticed.
Exhausted, they head to dinner and are surprised to find the server is from St. Thomas.
“This is a good sign that we’ll hit the beach tomorrow,” Rapola said before heading out early in the morning in Charlotte on Friday. He said he never lost his cool.
Some arrived at their vacation destinations before the storm.
Tiequia McBride, a San Antonio native and ex-Warren, returned home to visit her sister Tara and her nephews Darin, Damari and Vic before the storm hit. She flew into Cleveland on her December 19th and had no issues.
“Maybe it’s because I came a little early. I usually get home like two days before Christmas,” said McBride. “We hear that many people are having trouble getting to their destinations or their flights are being cancelled.”
McBride, who is in the Air Force, said that after living on a base in Hawaii for a while, it became more important to her to come home for the holidays.
“I realized how far I’ve come. I’ve seen my nephews, I’ve seen people grow up. I’ve missed important moments in their lives.” McBride said.
Now she comes home every Christmas and makes sure to visit her family when they can.
Ashley Fox had planned a Christmas road trip after the weather cleared, but she sat tight at home in Boardman during Friday’s storm.
“Fortunately, the family that had planned to visit came in a week earlier because they were able to work remotely,” says Fox. “I drive a car ‘micro machine’ that can handle snow, ice, or wind, so I stay calm, but it can’t handle everything at the same time. ”
Part of the AAA’s forecast for higher travel volume in the week between Christmas and New Year’s is because both holidays fall on Sundays, AAA senior vice president of travel, Paula Twydale, said in a news release. rice field.
“Hybrid work schedules allow people to work remotely at their destination and have more flexibility with departure and return dates, so more people are taking longer weekends to travel.”
The majority of holiday travelers, especially those traveling on long vacations or who can work remotely, are expected to drive, about 101.8 million.
According to the AAA, for those who have reached their destination and managed to reach their destination, the worst time to return is Tuesday through Friday between 3pm and 7pm, or between 4pm and 7pm on January 2nd. On Tuesday, Wednesday and January 2nd, drivers may experience up to 25% longer travel times than usual.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
