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CNN Live Today

Flight Cancellations Reach 2,000 in Aftermath of Snow

Aired February 17, 2003 - 10:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Rally Caparas is joining us now. Rally, as you folks should know by now, is our air travel expert, from Travelocity. He's in Charleston, South Carolina, where they don't get much snow, but as I understand it, Rally, you guys have some bad stuff there, as well, right?
RALLY CAPARAS, AIR TRAFFIC SPECIALIST, TRAVELOCITY.COM: Well, the weather here is not as frightful, but it's still pretty bad, Leon. It's little overcast. We had some bad situations, but a lot of the airports and all the airlines around the country are having problems getting airplanes around, as you know, because of the stuff in the Northeast. The Northeast -- I've already recorded about 2,000 cancellations. If you're headed into the Northeast, you're probably not going to get there today; so resign to the fact.

If you want to check on the status, please go online and do it. Stop calling the airlines or the airports -- they wouldn't be able to answer your phone fast enough. So many people are inundating them with phone calls. Go online; it's the most efficient way to do it.

Here's how it's going to break down for you if you're traveling to the major airports in the northeast. Boston's Logan Airport -- haven't seen much delays there yet but you will start to see runway and airport closures in the afternoon and evening. Guaranteed, there are going to be mega delays into Boston Logan. Keep it in mind before you head out to the airport.

La Guardia is closed until noon -- that's being optimistic. I would estimate that they're going to be closed until around 4:00 or 5:00 o'clock this evening -- if they actually open up today.

Philadelphia closed until at least noon. I'd say probably later in the afternoon is realistic, but they will see some clearing during the p.m. hours for better times right around the evening rush period.

I left out Newark and JFK -- throw them in with La Guardia. They're going to see some major delays because of runway closures for cleaning and the rest. Could close down for several hours at a time.

Baltimore Washington and Reagan National Airports, both of them closed -- not even scheduled to open until around 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. It might be a little earlier, because we're going to see clearing down there around the south of -- or actually in Washington, D.C.

Washington Dulles is open. They have two runways -- parallel runways. They clean one off, the snow fills up on that one, they close it, they open the other one up. You're going to see at least two to three hour delays in there, if you don't get canceled.

And then -- well, just to put it all in a nutshell, if you're traveling into the northeast from any place else in the country, count on major delays, folks. This is going to affect everybody, as the domino effect kind of kicks in.

Leon, back to you in the studios.

HARRIS: And this is going to go on for some time, too. Let me ask you this. If all the snow were to stop right now -- that's it, as of, say, oh about 10:30 eastern time there's no more snow. This would still take a number of days to get these airports back to regular schedules, wouldn't it?

CAPARAS: I would say that Wednesday is when we'll see schedules actually return back to normal. They have to get the equipment -- those airplanes that were supposed to pick someone up when they landed at La Guardia, then move on to -- or Philadelphia and, you know, or Pittsburgh even -- those airplanes have to pick people up, go to another airport -- they use that equipment.

This is a major event for the airlines. Feel bad for those folks -- those people in the terminals that are working so hard, fighting with, or actually trying to tame those people that are really aggravated. Be calm, folks. Make a friend, do some crossword puzzles, sing Kumbaya -- do whatever you need to do. But it's time to relax; you're not going any place anytime soon.

HARRIS: There you go; that's right. Light a candle or something. We don't want to hear about any fights at the airport right about now.

CAPARAS: There you go.

HARRIS: Thanks, Rally. We'll check back with you later; and you travel safely, all right? We're going to keep our eye on this winter weather all morning. We've got live shots coming into us from all the spots on the east coast that are being buried under this huge blanket of snow this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 17, 2003 - 10:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Rally Caparas is joining us now. Rally, as you folks should know by now, is our air travel expert, from Travelocity. He's in Charleston, South Carolina, where they don't get much snow, but as I understand it, Rally, you guys have some bad stuff there, as well, right?
RALLY CAPARAS, AIR TRAFFIC SPECIALIST, TRAVELOCITY.COM: Well, the weather here is not as frightful, but it's still pretty bad, Leon. It's little overcast. We had some bad situations, but a lot of the airports and all the airlines around the country are having problems getting airplanes around, as you know, because of the stuff in the Northeast. The Northeast -- I've already recorded about 2,000 cancellations. If you're headed into the Northeast, you're probably not going to get there today; so resign to the fact.

If you want to check on the status, please go online and do it. Stop calling the airlines or the airports -- they wouldn't be able to answer your phone fast enough. So many people are inundating them with phone calls. Go online; it's the most efficient way to do it.

Here's how it's going to break down for you if you're traveling to the major airports in the northeast. Boston's Logan Airport -- haven't seen much delays there yet but you will start to see runway and airport closures in the afternoon and evening. Guaranteed, there are going to be mega delays into Boston Logan. Keep it in mind before you head out to the airport.

La Guardia is closed until noon -- that's being optimistic. I would estimate that they're going to be closed until around 4:00 or 5:00 o'clock this evening -- if they actually open up today.

Philadelphia closed until at least noon. I'd say probably later in the afternoon is realistic, but they will see some clearing during the p.m. hours for better times right around the evening rush period.

I left out Newark and JFK -- throw them in with La Guardia. They're going to see some major delays because of runway closures for cleaning and the rest. Could close down for several hours at a time.

Baltimore Washington and Reagan National Airports, both of them closed -- not even scheduled to open until around 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. It might be a little earlier, because we're going to see clearing down there around the south of -- or actually in Washington, D.C.

Washington Dulles is open. They have two runways -- parallel runways. They clean one off, the snow fills up on that one, they close it, they open the other one up. You're going to see at least two to three hour delays in there, if you don't get canceled.

And then -- well, just to put it all in a nutshell, if you're traveling into the northeast from any place else in the country, count on major delays, folks. This is going to affect everybody, as the domino effect kind of kicks in.

Leon, back to you in the studios.

HARRIS: And this is going to go on for some time, too. Let me ask you this. If all the snow were to stop right now -- that's it, as of, say, oh about 10:30 eastern time there's no more snow. This would still take a number of days to get these airports back to regular schedules, wouldn't it?

CAPARAS: I would say that Wednesday is when we'll see schedules actually return back to normal. They have to get the equipment -- those airplanes that were supposed to pick someone up when they landed at La Guardia, then move on to -- or Philadelphia and, you know, or Pittsburgh even -- those airplanes have to pick people up, go to another airport -- they use that equipment.

This is a major event for the airlines. Feel bad for those folks -- those people in the terminals that are working so hard, fighting with, or actually trying to tame those people that are really aggravated. Be calm, folks. Make a friend, do some crossword puzzles, sing Kumbaya -- do whatever you need to do. But it's time to relax; you're not going any place anytime soon.

HARRIS: There you go; that's right. Light a candle or something. We don't want to hear about any fights at the airport right about now.

CAPARAS: There you go.

HARRIS: Thanks, Rally. We'll check back with you later; and you travel safely, all right? We're going to keep our eye on this winter weather all morning. We've got live shots coming into us from all the spots on the east coast that are being buried under this huge blanket of snow this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com