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Travelers at Baton Rouge Airport wait for nearly 12 hours due to winter storm across the nation
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BATON ROUGE - The winter storm has caused thousands of flights across the country to be cancelled. Several of those occurred right here in Baton Rouge.
Dozens of passengers arrived at the Baton Rouge Airport around 5 a.m. Monday for an American Airlines flight. Around 4 p.m., they told WBRZ that they were still at the airport waiting for their flight.
"I was scheduled to fly to DCA Reagan National in Washington, D.C. We were supposed to board at 5:55 this morning," Traveler Angela Williams said.
Williams was looking to return to D.C. after spending a week in Baton Rouge, but just before she could do so, she found out her flight was delayed. It was then delayed several more times throughout the day.
"Basically, because there are crosswinds, first the D.C. Airport was closed, and didn't open apparently until at least 9:30 this morning. They delayed us 14 times. I have 14 emails. The last delay, they said they were pretty sure that the flight was going to be cancelled because the crew had timed out, and they're going to reach their 14 or 15-hour time limit," Traveler John Hains said.
American Airlines rebooked some passengers on a flight to the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which would then head to D.C.
"And so they booked us onto Charlotte, which was supposed to leave at 5:30, and then got delayed to 7 and then 7:30," Hains said.
However, the Charlotte flight was then cancelled, with Hains saying his flight was rescheduled for Tuesday night.
"I do know that in DCA, there are some planes that are flying in, and I do know that they have created a lot of the runway in DCA. How much of it, I don't know, but I do know some of the runways are cleared," Williams said.
Both of the cancelled flights out of Baton Rouge were American Airlines. According to FlightAware, American Airlines cancelled over 1,400 flights on Monday. More than 500 flights going into or out of Reagan National Airport on Monday were also cancelled. On Sunday, nearly 99% of Reagan International's flights were cancelled.
In Baton Rouge, the travelers said they wished the airlines had been more up front and cancelled the flight earlier, rather than keep delaying it, which kept the passengers at the airport.
"I could have been at my parents' house resting because it's actually cold in this airport, it's very cold," Williams said.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says air travel is expected to return to normal by Wednesday.
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