Winter Weather Leaves Travelers Stranded

Mar. 17, 2007 — -- A blast of winter weather has left more than just snow to clean up. Travelers across the Northeast are stranded this morning, as Friday's flight cancellations stretched into this morning.

Passengers may have trouble getting to their destinations even once the skies clear. Flights are so booked, there are few empty seats to put them in.

Airlines Learn a Lesson from Jet Blue

Jet Blue was quick to cancel nearly all its flights in and out of New York yesterday, careful not to strand thousands of passengers like the airline did last month, when it failed to scrap flights in advance of a winter storm.

"I think they're just covering themselves because they had such a bad problem and such bad media, that they're just trying to protect themselves," one stranded Jet Blue passenger told "GMA."

Some aviation analysts believe JetBlue's mess last month and the political furor it created have made airlines more aggressive in canceling flights.

"This is a whole new dynamic. And that whole new dynamic is we don't want Congress to get upset, so we'll just cancel the flight instead," said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant.

But the big airlines insist that's not so, that canceling even thousands of flights before a big winter storm is business as usual.

Airlines Tried to Cancel Flights Earlier On

At the Delta Airlines Operations Control Center, they started notifying affected passengers mid-day Thursday that their Friday flights were canceled.

"What we're trying to accomplish is have the passengers remain in their home or places of business or in their hotels," said Gary Edwards, the Director of Delta Operations Control Center. "The last thing we want to have people do is drive to the airport in wintry conditions, go up and look at the flight monitor board and see their flight canceled."

Still, that's just what happened to many.

The Sell family from Pennsylvania was vacationing in the Dominican Republic last week, and struggling to try to get back to the Northeast.

"We were supposed to go home," said Ed Sell. "And after coming to the airport and sitting for four and a half hours, our flight was canceled."