"Northeast Airport Lines Long but Moving"

Monday, March 19, 2007

Northeast Airport Lines Long but Moving
The Associated Press


PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Airport lines were still long Monday but getting back to
normal in as US Airways tried to recover from a paralyzing ice storm that
stranded thousands of travelers in Northeast cities over the weekend.

About 100 people spent Sunday night at Philadelphia International Airport,
down from about 1,000 after the storm hit on Friday, said airport
spokeswoman Phyllis VanIstendal.

The weather Monday was good and there were few cancellations or delays, she
said.

"The lines are long but moving," VanIstendal said. "Hopefully this will all
even out by the end of the day."

In Pittsburgh, the long lines were due to Monday's normally heavy business
travel demand and "residual weather-related issues," an airport spokeswoman
said.

"There's still a little bit of a line at US Airways, but not anything like
there was yesterday," said JoAnn Jenny, spokeswoman for Pittsburgh
International Airport said Monday morning.

US Airways, the dominant carrier at both hard-hit airports, reported Sunday
that it was trying to find seats for 100,000 passengers systemwide whose
travel had been interrupted by the storm that hit the Northeast. The company
said it was headed back toward normal operations Monday.

"We were able to reaccommodate most of our passengers yesterday," US Airways
spokeswoman Valerie Wunder said.

The airline was also facing a huge backlog of baggage, with hundreds of bags
in the Philadelphia luggage claim area on Monday morning. Wunder said the
airline was using several trucks to deliver bags to customers' homes.

Many US Airways customers were diverted to its largest hub, Charlotte, N.C.,
on Friday when the storm dumped snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain on
Philadelphia, New York and other Northeast cities, the airline said.

Airport officials said between 200 and 300 people spent Sunday night there.

Computer problems, airline staffing rules and other problems slowed US
Airways' attempts to clear the backlog. Meanwhile, 275,000 passengers were
already booked on US Airways flights on Sunday that were nearly sold out
from the start in part because of spring break.

>From Friday to Saturday morning, more than 3,600 flights were canceled
nationwide because of the storm. In addition to US Airways, JetBlue, Delta
Air Lines and American Airlines canceled flights.

The storm stranded hundreds of passengers at New York's Kennedy
International Airport, including hundreds stuck on planes Friday night as
aircraft were unable to take off or find space at gates.

By Sunday, there were only scattered delays of up to two hours at New York's
Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, with some delays of up five hours at Newark
Liberty, said Alan Hicks, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey.

Dan Stacey, 34, of Philadelphia, was at the airport Sunday trying to find
his luggage. An Irish fiddler, he had tried Friday to fly to Phoenix, where
he was slated to perform in four St. Patrick's Day concerts over the
weekend.

Instead, he said he sat in a US Airways plane on the Philadelphia tarmac for
eight hours before it returned to the gate.

"I lamented the fact that I was the only Irish musician in America not
working on St. Patty's day," Stacey said.

He then went home -- but found out Sunday that his luggage went to Phoenix
anyway.

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