DALLAS — Weather and high traffic volume across parts of the country trickled down to delays for numerous North Texas flights Saturday.
“We were delayed about fifteen minutes – but that’s no big deal,” said Bonnie Sparks of Long Beach, Calif., in town to see her nephew.
Her delay was mild, but that wasn’t the case for everyone.
Snow and ice delayed flights for more than an hour out of Minneapolis, high winds set San Francisco air traffic back nearly two hours and in New York, sheer volume forced an hour-long delay. That’s according to airport status information provided by the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center.
This has families like the Chavezes of Garland trying to make the most of a Spring Break that just started.
“The strategy is early, early, early. Get to the airport at least two hours before, because we just saw the line right now and if we’d been here fifteen minutes afterword we’d still be in line,” said Felix Chavez, who’s en route to San Diego from Dallas Love Field Airport.
By day’s end, Southwest Airlines canceled 20 flights due to what a spokesperson referred to as an “air traffic control gridlock.”
“We’ve always done well with Southwest so we’re [crossing our fingers],” Chavez said.
This as Love Field tweeted to travelers to anticipate what it’s calling a “super-busy” Sunday.
American Airlines also confirmed Sunday that the airline has experienced 50 cancellations and "scattered delays."