Winter storm snarls travel plans for some flying out of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The winter storm that swept through the country made its way to our area on Friday, and that was causing problems for some travelers trying to depart Philadelphia International Airport.

As AAA points out, while you may be flying somewhere sunny, your plane might be coming from somewhere snowy – and that will ultimately impact you.

Across the country, flights were being canceled left and right amid a surge in holiday travel.

“We’re flying to Atlanta so we’re hoping that we’re able to get out of here before the snow hits,” said Branton Stone of Wrightstown, New Jersey.

We caught up with one group that took a train from LaGuardia to Philadelphia International after their flight got canceled.

“We got up at 4 o’clock, took the train over to Philadelphia, and Delta was able to get us on a flight home,” said Andrew Miller of Panama City, Florida. “So we’ll be able to spend Christmas at home together.”

According to FlightAware, as of 8 p.m., 5,380 flights were cancelled on Friday, breaking the record for most cancellations in a single day this year.

Dante Dibiase was originally booked on a flight from Wyoming to Philadelphia Thursday morning..

After multiple cancellations and delays, 34 hours later he’s just arriving to Philadelphia. His final destination still another two hour train ride to Harrisburg.

“It’s been quite an adventure, you know, sleeping on airport terminal floors isn’t exactly the most exciting thing,” he said.

All this as AAA says travel reached pre-pandemic levels.

“What makes it different in terms of volume is we have two back-to-back three-day weekends,” said Jana Tidwell of AAA. “Many people take the time off in between, so that affords them a good amount of time to take maybe one trip, maybe several trips, to visit family and friends and get away in between the Christmas and New Year holiday.”