PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Travelers at Philadelphia International Airport faced delays and cancellations on Monday due to severe weather across the country and a partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n
Airport operations in Philadelphia appeared calm at times, but the impacts were visible on departure boards. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled in and out of the airport as storms swept across the United States.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of hanging out happening” at the airport, said Tom Tussing of Scappoose, Oregon, who arrived early after receiving alerts about potential delays.<\/p>\n
“We got a lot of alerts on our phone that said the weather was gonna delay flights. So, we came to the airport about six hours early,” Tussing said.<\/p>\n
Travel headaches due to weather, partial government shutdown<\/p>\n
The severe weather has caused widespread problems nationwide, particularly in Chicago, where hundreds of flights have been canceled or delayed. Those disruptions are rippling through connecting flights for travelers in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
“It’s scheduled for 7 p.m., but we’re already delayed. So we’re hoping to make our connection in Chicago to get back to Omaha tonight. We’ll see!” said Stacy Arndt of Omaha, Nebraska.<\/p>\n
Despite the delays, some travelers remained optimistic about making it home.<\/p>\n
“We’d like to go to work tomorrow. But if we can’t, it’s no big deal!” Arndt said.<\/p>\n
Others were less fortunate.<\/p>\n
Melissa Bird of Dallas said her flight home had already been canceled.<\/p>\n
“We were supposed to fly home yesterday, and it was just canceled,” Bird said.<\/p>\n
The storm is also hitting during the busy spring break travel period, increasing crowds at airports across the country.<\/p>\n
Compounding the issue is a partial government shutdown that has stretched Transportation Security Administration staffing.<\/p>\n
More than 360 TSA agents have quit, and the weekend saw the highest call-out rates so far during the shutdown, which has entered its fourth week.<\/p>\n
Agents have now missed one full and one partial paycheck.<\/p>\n
The staffing shortages have led to longer security lines, including at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where travelers reported waiting nearly two hours at security.<\/p>\n
Travelers say the possibility of longer TSA lines is another reason they’re arriving earlier than usual.<\/p>\n
“I know there’s been some TSA slowdowns recently, so we like to be here with plenty of time. We don’t like to rush to the gate,” Arndt said.<\/p>\n
Others were simply hoping their travel plans wouldn’t change.<\/p>\n
“It says my flights are on time for now, so fingers crossed,” said Gina Correla of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
As of early Monday afternoon, there had been more than 6,300 flight delays and more than 3,500 cancellations nationwide.<\/p>\n
At Philadelphia International Airport alone, over 220 flights were delayed and just over 160 were canceled as of Monday at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
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