Weather, airport delays disrupt Americans’ Christmas travel
Millions of Americans are preparing for challenging weather conditions during the Christmas holiday, as storms threaten to further disrupt one of the year’s busiest travel periods.
Along the East Coast, the season’s first winter storm has covered cities from Boston to Baltimore in snow and ice.
Meanwhile, in California, residents are dealing with the aftermath of a severe storm that struck on Monday, bringing hurricane-force winds, flooding, and high surf, which claimed one life.
These weather events add to the travel woes of Americans already facing delays caused by a ground stop of American Airlines flights due to a technology issue.
In the East, heavy snowfall is expected to impact travel in areas like Boston and New York, while Baltimore and Washington, D.C., brace for ice and other wintry conditions.
On the West Coast, Monday’s storm caused a pier to collapse and sent three people into the Pacific Ocean.
Waves from that storm reached 60ft (18m) and forced some evacuations. Flooding and high surf warnings remain in effect on Tuesday.
Weather is not the only thing impacting holiday travel on Tuesday, with technological issues adding further stress as millions of Americans hurry to their destinations.
Early Tuesday, American Airlines flights were halted after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a “nationwide groundstop” due to a “vendor technology issue”.
The groundstop was lifted about an hour after it began and flights resumed, but not without creating a ripple of delays.
Delays were expected to continue into the day on Tuesday with some departures taking off two hours after they were scheduled.
American Airlines apologized for the inconvenience and said: “It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible”.
While many morning flights were delayed Tuesday, most afternoon flights are scheduled to depart on time.
