NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) — Hundreds of flights at LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark airports were either cancelled or delayed as severe weather swept across the Tri-State area on Monday.
The morning began with 8,000 flights cancelled nationwide, and it went downhill from there as blizzards, thunderstorms and threats of tornadoes grounded or delayed air travel.
A mother and daughter team began their day in Boston, where their flight to Miami was delayed then cancelled. So, they took a train down to LaGuardia Airport.
While they were en route, that flight was cancelled. They pivoted to Newark, only to have two more flights delayed then cancelled.
“We are flying out of LaGuardia tomorrow at 12:30. Fingers crossed,” said air traveler Katherine Shiatis.
“You can’t control the weather, so I can only hope and pray,” said air traveler Sophia Shiatis.
Cynthia Joseph flew down from Canada for a wedding but her ride home was cancelled.
“I’m trying to figure it out,” Joseph said when asked about her plan B.
Compounding the weather woes: the partial government shutdown. Sixty-thousand TSA workers are now without pay. Security lines could prove monstrously slow as the impasse continues.
In Atlanta, a security line had to be shut down again because of lack of workers.
“We’ve missed one full paycheck, but the last paycheck we got was only about 30% of what we normally make,” Cameron Cochems said. “It’s affected us mentally. It’s affected us emotionally. It’s affects us financially.”
Eventually, the weather will clear and flights will resume, but TSA workers still need to be paid and that will take an act of Congress.
The airlines are now pushing federal lawmakers to take care of the essential workers.
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