Airplanes wait as storms move through the area at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Saturday.
Credit...Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle, via Associated Press

Severe Storms Cause Travel Delays Across the U.S. as Tornadoes Threaten the South

More than 9,000 flights were delayed on Saturday amid threats of rain, snow and tornadoes across the country.

by · NY Times

Thousands of flights around the country were delayed or canceled on Saturday because of severe weather, disrupting travel for many returning home after the holidays.

More than 9,000 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed, and more than 300 others were canceled as of Saturday evening, according to data from FlightAware. The delays were roughly as widespread as the ones on previous days.

As of Saturday evening, more than half of the flights originating from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston were delayed, according to FlightAware. About half of the flights were also delayed at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. At New York’s Kennedy International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said flights that were pushed back had an average delay of more than two hours.

Inclement weather, or the threat of it, was affecting several different regions in the United States. In the West, large bands of moisture in the sky led to heavy rain and snow warnings in some areas. In the South, severe storms were expected over the weekend, and several tornadoes were reported in the Houston area on Saturday, killing at least one person and injuring four others. A storm system moving toward the Northeast also threatened to bring rain and snow.

Travel out of Texas was particularly challenging. At the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, one of the country’s busiest and the largest hub for American Airlines, the scheduling problems continued from earlier this week, when bad weather and a technical glitch briefly grounded the airline’s flights. Dense fog and storms in the days since have caused more delays.

Dallas Love Field Airport was also affected, with more than 50 percent of flights from Southwest Airlines, the airport’s largest carrier, experiencing delays, according to FlightAware. In Houston, the George Bush airport issued a ground stop for United Airlines flights in the afternoon.

Regina Esquivel was trying to fly to Newark, N.J., from the George Bush airport on Saturday, but her plane was stuck on the tarmac for nearly four hours before it was redirected to a gate. Ms. Esquivel, 28, said she was particularly annoyed that passengers were denied any snacks or drinks while they waited.

“People are so frustrated,” she said. “It’s insane.”

At Dallas-Fort Worth on Saturday morning, passengers sat on their luggage as they waited for postponements to end. Outside, rain fell and bolts of lightning flashed. Other travelers stood in long lines at customer service counters to change their flights.

Ashley Allen, 55, boarded a plane from Las Vegas to Dallas just before midnight on Friday, expecting that her connecting flight in Texas would take her home to Fort Myers, Fla., by midday Saturday. But while she was in the air, she found out that her flight home had been canceled.

She has since been stranded in Dallas because the flight she rebooked was delayed.

“They canceled our flight, put us on another flight and said we could change it if we wanted,” Ms. Allen said, laughing. “There are no other flights.”

After morning delays, the airport returned to normal operations, said Brian Brooks, a spokesman for the airport.

Christine Chung contributed reporting.

Explore Our Weather Coverage