Holiday flyers navigate cancellations at MSP Airport
(FOX 9)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Metropolitan Airports Commission projected Sunday would be the busiest day of this holiday season for travelers at MSP Airport. But while air traffic surged, more than 100 flights were either cancelled or delayed. But, many travelers saw it coming and planned accordingly.
"I saw a lot of Delta flights are being canceled, so I thought I’d get here just a little bit earlier just in case security was taking a lot longer and in case they decided to cancel my flight at the last minute," traveler Randall Witzel said.
MSP Airport flyers navigate through holiday flight cancellations
The Metropolitan Airports Commission projected Sunday would be the busiest day of this holiday season for travelers at MSP Airport. But while air traffic surged, more than 100 flights were either cancelled or delayed. But, many travelers saw it coming and planned accordingly.
"We just planned to get to the airport extra early this morning," passenger Emily Heckel said.
"This time we gave ourselves about 2 1/2 hours just to be safe," traveler Steve Moe added.
MSP Airport says the airlines don't report specific reasons for their flight cancellations.
Regardless, those reasons wouldn’t matter much for the stranded travelers left behind, many of whom flew into town to see family for the holidays, and spent Sunday trying to get back home.
"I don’t know what I would do," Witzel said. "I’d have to try to rent a car and travel 1,300 miles across the country. So I can only imagine what they’re going through… I guess I can say I’m pretty blessed that my flight so far is going out on time and I don’t have to make any other arrangements."
In all, the airport expected 35,000 passengers to pass through TSA checkpoints on Sunday. That is 14,000 people more than a year ago but still another 11,000 people short of numbers before the pandemic.