{"id":166588,"date":"2026-02-24T04:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T04:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166588\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T04:36:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T04:36:51","slug":"vacationers-face-delays-at-tampa-airport-after-winter-weather-snarls-flights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166588\/","title":{"rendered":"Vacationers face delays at Tampa airport after winter weather snarls flights"},"content":{"rendered":"

As winter weather causes delays and cancellations<\/a> across parts of the country, many travelers at Tampa International Airport are finding themselves stuck \u2014 just hours after returning from cruises to Mexico.<\/p>\n

For some, the timing feels ironic: trading sunshine for snow in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n

Laurel Carney had just said goodbye to her sister after a week on the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was lovely, we just relaxed, didn\u2019t have to do anything, go anywhere,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n

Now, she\u2019s trying to get home to Buffalo, with a connecting flight through Baltimore.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy plan is to get on the flight and fly straight to Baltimore, whether that happens is another story. Right now, Baltimore is socked in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Christopher Micozzi is also heading north \u2014 to Cleveland \u2014 after a cruise to Mexico. But snow across parts of the Midwest has him watching the departure board closely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not looking good so far. A lot of the northwest is blanketed by snow, so we\u2019re kind of sitting here hoping everything works out, but we don\u2019t know until it shows up on the board,\u201d Micozzi said.<\/p>\n

He said the uncertainty can be frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little stressful regardless because you don\u2019t really have a plan if things go astray, but we take it step by step and hope everything works out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, he said the trip was worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely worth it to escape the winter for a cruise, but you know, there\u2019s a little stress involved, but you don\u2019t plan for that,\u201d Micozzi said.<\/p>\n

For Tyler Eroshevich, the journey home has already been turbulent. He said his cruise ship hit rough waters after leaving Mexico, just before travel warnings<\/a> went into effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened basically right as we left port, I think we hit international waters when all that started happening, so today it was the big talk as everyone was getting off the boat,\u201d Eroshevich said.<\/p>\n

Despite the delays and uncertainty, many travelers said they would take the trip again for the sunshine and time with loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna take a long time to get home. We don\u2019t know if we\u2019re going to end up getting a car and driving or getting our flight or what. We\u2019ll see,\u201d said Suzanne Neville.<\/p>\n

Carney said she\u2019s prepared to wait if necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not worried about the delay at all. If I have to spend the night in the airport, I spend the night in the airport,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While winter weather may be complicating the return home, none of the travelers interviewed said they regretted taking the trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As winter weather causes delays and cancellations across parts of the country, many travelers at Tampa International Airport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[20485,79210,26977,79209,135,137,3210,136,26929],"class_list":["post-166588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-baltimore","tag-christopher-micozzi","tag-delays-and-cancellations","tag-laurel-carney","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-international-airport","tag-tampa-news","tag-winter-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}