Flying on Tuesday? Few problems for Thanksgiving travelers
Tuesday offered few obstacles to air travelers getting an early start on the Thanksgiving rush.
Flight schedules were running on time Tuesday morning. Nationwide, a remarkably small number of flights -- just 51 -- had been canceled as of 7:15 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. About 1,450 flights were running behind schedule as of the same time, representing only a modest disruption to the USA's nationwide flight schedule.
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In one of the rare Tuesday trouble sports, limited visibility delayed about 15% of the day's departures from San Francisco, but that was only one of the USA’s major hub airports to face significant weather issues Tuesday. San Diego saw about 10% of its arrivals delayed, but only a handful of cancellations.
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Tuesday marked the second consecutive day of mostly issue-free flying for Thanksgiving travelers. Less than 100 flights were canceled Monday and there were only scattered delays across the U.S., according to FlightAware.
In fact, the calm travel forecast could hold through the Wednesday, the busy “getaway day” ahead of Thanksgiving on Thursday. A large storm was forecast to move from the West into the central USA, but the storm’s worst weather looked likely to spare nearly all of the USA’s big airports.
Still, there were some concerns to surface fliers during this year's Thanksgiving rush.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department issued a rare worldwide travel alert, warning American travelers about the widespread threats posed by members of the Islamic State or copycat bombers.
In the U.S., travelers at airports can expect heightened security measures. The Transportation Security Administration typically keeps details under wraps, saying only that unpredictability is key in thwarting those who might to exploit the screening process. On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson confirmed to CNN that the TSA had "doubled down" on security at airports and that wait times have inched up as a result.
JetBlue, for example, suggested fliers arrive two hours prior to their flights and "should plan on longer-than-usual lines and processing times for screening at TSA Security checkpoints" during the Thanksgiving travel period.
At Arizona’s busy Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, there appeared to be little out of the ordinary at the airport. No machine-gun toting officers were visible. Nor was there a pervasive police presence in the terminal.
Sabrina Kosek of Gilbert, Ariz., who travels weekly for business, said she noticed extra TSA canines at one of the security checkpoints at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s Terminal 4 on Tuesday morning while waiting for her flight to Minneapolis.
Kosek heard about the worldwide travel alert via Facebook on Monday night.
“Everybody’s posting it,’’ she said.
She didn’t think twice about canceling her trip, though.
“It makes you nervous a little but I kind of feel like there’s caution everywhere you go right now,’’ she said. “Just be aware of your surroundings. I always am.’’
Elsewhere, some passengers took to social media with their holiday travel tales. The presence of security personnel sounded more pronounced in New York, according to one traveler's observation via Twitter.
"Swat team at the airport.... Yeah this gonna be an interesting thanksgiving week in NYC," one traveler tweeted in an apparent reference to stepped up security measures at the airport.
Contributing: Alan Gomez, Paste BN
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