Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Passengers, Bags Stuck at JFK; Ski Lift Stuck in Maine; Delayed In New York; Wind The Worry In Northeast

Aired December 28, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's talk about what happened. First of all, a few stats on Sugarloaf for those who are not familiar, the second highest peak in all of Maine, more than 4,200 feet. The only lift service above tree line skiing in the east and a vertical drop of 2,820 feet. It is some of the biggest skiing, on the east coast. This is what they point out on their website. And it is, those who are average skiers know Sugarloaf well.

Let's talk a little bit about what we know happened today. A spokesman is telling us he's never known this to happen ever at Sugarloaf. But this is the kind of thing that, you know what, these rescuers prepare for. And fortunately, they have prepared for it.

There was a malfunction earlier. We have reports of several people injured. We don't know how seriously injured. And our folks on the scene saying it could be as many as five injured. But since that time, at the beginning, we are hearing, Tony, that things are going relatively well.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. So that's the reset on the story in Maine.

There's another big story that -- we're at the top of the hour, 12:00 noon Eastern, in the CNN NEWSROOM. Tony Harris and Josh Levs, as you can see here. Jacqui Jeras is with us as well. I think we'll be switching out in just a second and Chad Myers will be joining us.

The other big story that we're obviously following for you is the latest travel snag at JFK International Airport. Have you been following this story?

We're talking about a number of planes that were stuck on the tarmac for hours, couldn't get through Customs. A lot of employees just weren't there.

Our Elise Zeiger is at JFK.

And Elise, I know you're on the phone with us. If you would, give us an update on where things stand at this point.

ELISE ZEIGER, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (via telephone): Sure. As you said, Tony, not only have the passengers -- not only were they sitting on the tarmac, some of them five hours, some of them, say, six hours, but now they've been waiting four, five, six hours for their baggage.

And the folks that I've spoken to are, to say the least, beyond frustrated. You know, they've been told that it would be 8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m. Now they're hearing it's more like 2:00.

I'm actually standing right in front of the service baggage center that is for Delta, Air France, Lufthansa. All of them have "closed" signs on their doors, and there's literally a dozen, 50, 60 people just waiting in groups, in front of these doors, for them to open, and it's not a happy crowd.

HARRIS: OK, Elise. Let's do this -- let's do this -- let's chop this up. So you've got a bunch of people there in close proximity to you, so perhaps we can talk to some of them as we continue to sort of cut through the maze that is this story.

But can you circle back, and to the story of the folks trapped on their planes, essentially, on the tarmac for hours, then not able to get processed through Customs? What's the story there? What happened to the Customs agents?

ZEIGER: That's right. Well, according to four or five people I talked with, a couple of these folks were on Air France Flight 008, which was supposed to land at 11:00, our time, and landed at 1:00 a.m. instead.

They were OK with that delay and glad to be on the ground. But then a pilot got on and said, we're sorry, folks. You know, there's no one here to meet us, so we have to sit tight.

That turned into, as I said, five, six hours. They said they received very, very little communication on the plane about why there was this delay.

Some of them had water, but that ran out pretty quickly. They said that for the most part, people were pretty calm, but at some point, as the delay continued and continued, you know, people were getting more and more upset.

HARRIS: Yes. Forgive me, Elise. Forgive me. I'm just trying to understand.

Do we have clarity on why the delay? What happened here?

ZEIGER: Yes. Well, according to these folks -- and as I said, I spoke to four or five of them -- they were told that, because there were no Customs officials to meet them at Customs, so they literally had to wait for these employees to come to the Customs --

HARRIS: And do we know why that was the case?

ZEIGER: Oh, I have no idea why.

HARRIS: OK.

ZEIGER: I think, though, we have talked to some Customs officials. I have not personally, but I did see that they were saying that that was not a further delay.

So I don't know who --

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: All right. So we've got some -- yes.

ZEIGER: And the same thing with folks I talked on this AeroMexico flight which landed. Again, slightly delayed, but sat out on the runway. And one woman I talked to and interviewed said the problem was claustrophobia on the plane. You know, it was quite a lot of passengers, and after hours and hours, they just were fit to be tied.

HARRIS: OK. Elise, if you would, hang on just a second. I want to come back to you on the baggage part of this story.

And maybe our national desk, our international desk, or someone can get something of a statement from Customs at JFK to explain what happened here.

Josh, can you help us at all with this?

LEVS: I can tell you this, Tony, that earlier, I know that CNN had contacted Customs and Border Enforcement and tried to reach out to officials, and had tried to reach out to officials and tried to find out whether it really was Customs that was just not there at all, and that that's why people ended up sitting on the planes all night.

There are a lot of passengers with the exact same story, that they were sitting out on that tarmac and that they were told that Customs officials had gone home at 1:00 a.m. We, as last I heard, and I'll check again in minutes, had not heard either way. We have not gotten a call back on whether that was the case at JFK.

But I can tell you this -- and I think we might have it here. We have some sound from someone with the Port Authority, because all the airlines are forwarding their questions about this to the Port Authority, which oversees the airports.

He joined us on "AMERICAN MORNING" today. Here's one thing he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE COLEMAN, SPOKESMAN, PORT AUTHORITY: That's not acceptable. And like I said, we're still looking into it because we don't know if these airlines contacted us for help.

We have buses and ways to passengers from planes to terminals if we're given notice that they're out there. But a lot of times the airlines don't inform us of the problems. So we have to check in to see exactly what happened here, and that's what we're going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: OK. So they're looking into it now.

In some ways, it was the beginning of the nightmare. I mean, you had a lot of people who said they were on these flights for six or seven hours overnight.

There were some stories about people asking if they could have food. And some officials on the plane, the pilot and others, saying that they were trying to get them food, but that the police wouldn't come on and bring them food.

One passenger we've been speaking to today, Cristobal Alex, he was on an AeroMexico flight. He was told the same thing about Customs officials, and then he told us what it was like once he finally got off the plane today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRISTOBAL ALEX, STRANDED PASSENGER: We couldn't go to the normal gate where the Customs terminal is because I guess they had shut down for the day. And then we ended up spending a good -- well, I'm still at the airport. I mean, we finally got off the plane, but now there is no baggage. So --

ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: There's no baggage?

ALEX: We spent six and a half, seven hours out there, and now it's like mob rule down here in terminal one. There's no bags coming out, and people have been waiting for hours for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Mob rule, people waiting for hours, not what you want to hear.

I will tell you, Tony, we have a statement from one of the airlines that had a plane out there all night, British Airways. Let's just go to that quickly, because it's kind of an example of how this works.

They say, "We fully apologize to customers for this delay, but it's outside our control what parking stands we are allocated."

So this really is a question, Tony, for Port Authority and about Customs.

And let me tell everyone, if you're out there, you're one of the people affected, we're hearing from you about this as well. My Facebook and Twitter pages are busy right now covering the breaking news out of Sugarloaf, but also this. I'm at JoshLevsCNN.

Go ahead, send me your stories, videos, anything you've got.

And we'll bring them to you here, Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Let's do this -- I want to get to Chad in a second, but I want to get back to Elise Zeiger, one of our CNN producers who's at JFK International Airport.

And Elise --

ZEIGER: Tony, I'm still looking at these baggage service offices, and they are all closed. And people are scratching their heads. Why can't they get information?

One woman I spoke with earlier said if she was told if they didn't wait for their baggage and went to their hotels, or wherever they're saying, it could take three to five days to get their bags.

HARRIS: This is insane. I just don't understand this.

Elise, if you would, stand by.

ZEIGER: Sure.

HARRIS: Chad Myers is with us now.

And Chad, there are a couple of threads to this story. And I know you can help us walk through all of it. So it's all yours. Take it away.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is not the first time people have been stranded on the tarmac for a very long time. And you remember something called the Passenger Bill of Rights? Did we just forget about that all a sudden? Wait a minute now.

If you're on the ground for one hour, two hours, three hours, four, eight, whatever the number is, all of a sudden you're due compensation and you can't do this. Well, remember the map I showed you yesterday?

HARRIS: Yes.

MYERS: And I called it -- I said, "Do you remember Talking Heads?" Have you ever heard of the group Talking Heads?

HARRIS: Yes.

MYERS: You're on a road to nowhere. These people were on flights to closed airports.

JFK was closed. We had flights coming in from L.A., from Las Vegas, and then a couple -- one from Dubai, and then another one from Birmingham, England. But they got there at 6:00.

When the airport opened, they were ready and they landed at 6:00. I was here watching those flights land.

Then there was a huge delay with no other flights in the area to JFK. Well, all of a sudden, they knew that the airport was open. Airports allowed planes to leave.

And right now we have 72 planes on the way to JFK. Every plane you see is on the way. Now, a lot of these are domestic, all domestic flights.

But look at this -- one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 up there coming from across Europe. At least 13, 14, 15 -- 15 international flights arriving, and here's one that just popped up over here. Sixteen international flights that will be arriving probably within an hour, hour and a half.

But there's nobody there to help these people out to get them off. This is going to be continuing, especially if there's no baggage coming out, too, Tony.

Employees literally can't get to the airport in some cases. And so if you don't have anybody to help you, you don't have anybody to do your baggage claim, to do your Customs forms.

All of a sudden, you shouldn't be going to that airport, because there's nobody there to let you off the plane. And that's what happened last night.

HARRIS: Elise, are you still there?

ZEIGER: I am. I am.

I'm just wondering though, is it the airlines' responsibility then to tell these passenger that, once they land at these airports that have been having all these problem, they may be sitting on the ground for hours and hours and hours? Now, they may not know this at the time. But one passenger I talked to, (INAUDIBLE), who came off that AeroMexico flight, said that if she had known that they were going to be sitting there for all that time, she would not have gotten on that plane.

HARRIS: Yes.

All right. Let's do this -- let's take a break.

Chad, appreciate it. Stay there.

MYERS: I'm not going anywhere.

HARRIS: Don't you go anywhere.

Josh is here as well.

And Josh, when we get back, I under I have received a statement. So I know you have as well.

LEVS: I just got it, yes.

HARRIS: I don't want you to read it now. It's a tease.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So we've got a couple of breaking news stories that we're following, one out of Maine and the other at JFK International Airport right now. We have Elise Zeiger, who is there. We'll get back to Elise in a second.

Chad Myers is with us as well. And, of course, Josh Levs is with me.

We've got a situation where we had people on the plane, on the tarmac, on international flights.

LEVS: And landed from overseas, right.

HARRIS: And landed, yes. And ended up on the tarmac for hours.

LEVS: Seven hours in some cases.

HARRIS: In some cases. And we believe they're all off the planes now and they're trying to get through Customs. Chad made the point a moment ago, you need your --

MYERS: Bags.

LEVS: Here's the thing. Let me just reset this, because --

HARRIS: -- to get through Customs.

LEVS: Right.

MYERS: Correct.

LEVS: We were just talking about this before the break, about how these people were on the flights all night. Several of them were given the same reports. They were saying that they were told that they couldn't proceed to the next step, basically get off the planes, because Customs officials had been sent home at 1:00 a.m.

I told you that I knew as of earlier, we had not gotten a call back, and I'd check if we did. I just checked and we have.

In the past hour, we had gotten a call back from Customs and Border Protection, a spokesman, John Salla (ph). Let me tell you what he's telling us.

"At no point were Customs officials sent home overnight. Those reports are incorrect," he says. And I'll keep going here.

He says, "Customs officials staff JFK 24/365. For flights arriving after midnight there's usually one terminal available which is always staffed with Customs officers." He goes on to say, "With the current weather-related issue, officials have been taking multiple shifts to ensure ample staffing."

So this Customs and Border Protection saying they have no involvement in passengers deplaning or with the removal of the cargo. And let me tell you, this is interesting, how he ended. He says, "It is the responsibility of the airline to notify Customs officials when arriving at JFK." So what do we have here? We have Customs and Border Protection saying not our fault. We have Port Authority saying we don't know what happened, we've got to look into this. We have airlines saying this isn't up to us, we don't control the airport.

Right now, we still don't know why hundreds of people were stuck on planes for up to seven hours all night at JFK, not deplaned.

HARRIS: All right. So, let's get -- what is his name, John (ph)?

LEVS: John Salla (ph).

HARRIS: Let's get him on the phone.

LEVS: Yes, let's give it a shot.

HARRIS: Let's get someone from the airlines on the phone. This is what we do. So let's get to the bottom of this.

Chad, anything you wanted to add before we get you to pull up Sugarloaf?

MYERS: Yes, we'll go back to Sugarloaf in a second, right?

HARRIS: Yes.

MYERS: I mean, every time you go over a ski resort and you go over those poles that are holding up your ski lift and it goes, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, you say, oh, please stay on, please stay on, please stay on. And obviously, we had some breaking news where one of those poles didn't keep its cable.

But back to JFK, you do need to go get your bags, and then put them through, go get them again, and then take them to Customs. So it seems to me -- and I'm just an outsider looking in here, but somewhere along the line, planes that were arriving late, late, late last night couldn't get bags off planes, or couldn't get jets out of jet ways so that other jets could get there to get people off.

HARRIS: Right.

MYERS: OK? You have a very skeleton crew, at that time anyway. Then you have a bigger skeleton crew because it's full of wind-chill at 35 degrees below zero, people are working a lot slower, they have to go in and take breaks, mandatory breaks, because at that point in time, you have to go inside. It's union shop and union rules, you must go in and warm back up and then go back out.

That slows the whole process down, too many flights trying to come in, in too short of time. When the airport was closed for so long, the airlines got rambunctious and put planes in the air, all arriving at the same time.

HARRIS: So let's do this -- let's transition to the story we were following last hour, most of last hour, and that is certainly the situation in Maine. And you can help us with some mapping on that, as you always do, Chad. And you were actually helping us with information as we were working through the breaking news of it.

Rob Atkinson, as you know if you've been following our coverage for the last hour, and his wife were among about 100 people or more who were stuck.

Did we lose him?

Who were stuck on this lift, Sugarloaf mountain. And Robb is with us. He and his wife are on the ground safely.

Robb, it is great to talk to you again, safely on terra firma.

If you would, describe the rescue, describe what you went through over the last 20 minutes or so.

ROBB ATKINSON, CNN NEWSOURCE: OK. Well, they got the rope to us, and there was a system of ropes and pulleys with a swing you climb into once you get on the chairlift. And then once you're safely on, a rope was secured over your arms, tightened, and then they lowered you down very easily and safely. And they did a remarkable job getting everybody off the mountain.

HARRIS: Is that nervous-making at all, just the process of the rescue being strapped in and actually coming down the mountain? Is that nervous-making at all for you?

ATKINSON: It was really -- yes. I mean, you had to slide off the chairlift 40 feet off the ground into a swing, and then they lowered you down. And then once you got down, you had to ski down to the base. So it was quite a few minutes there.

HARRIS: Well, how about you? How about your wife Maureen? How are you doing?

ATKINSON: Maureen is fine. We're both freezing and our kids want food. Believe it or not -- we dropped them off at child care, and we're picked up, and they are like, "Why are you late?" I'm like, well --

(LAUGHTER)

ATKINSON: They don't understand. I'm like, "I've got a video to show you." I got video of Maureen being rescued and I got pictures of some of the other people being rescued, which, as soon as I get to someplace warm, and Wi-Fi, I'll upload to CNN.

HARRIS: That's terrific.

Do you think you will -- well, you will get them to us when you get the pictures and the images to us. The important piece of this is that you're safe.

What is also clear is that there were some people who were injured in the initial moments of this when that cable snapped, and you describe what you saw after that cable snapped.

ATKINSON: Yes, once the wind happened, there was a bump. Once the bump happened, out of the corner of my eye I saw three chairlifts fall down about 30 feet onto the slope.

And then I heard screams from people who were -- just watching in horror as the chairlifts plummeted down to the ground. It was pretty scary. And then there was tension in front of us, on the cable, and we were worried, of course, that we were going to be next. But thankfully, that cable held.

HARRIS: Talk to us about the work of the rescue team.

ATKINSON: The rescue teams were amazing. They worked in teams three to five and went chairlift to chairlift. They threw a rope over the chairlift, and they were able to get to each couple or individual on the chairlifts, and get this rope up to them, and then lower them down.

They were amazing. They were incredibly professional. And you can tell they really trained for this.

HARRIS: Were you concerned at any point that your chair would be next and you would be thrown from that chair 30, 40 feet to the ground?

ATKINSON: We were nervous about -- we were worried that we were -- yes. Initially, once people were trying to find out what happened, we, of course, were asking people skiing below us. You know, they were saying, "The chairlifts fell. The chairlifts fell."

And we were worried that we could be next, and we started coming up with a plan on what happens if the chairlift fell. You know? So it was --

HARRIS: To the best of --

ATKINSON: It's not the morning I anticipated for skiing, I'll tell you that.

HARRIS: Man, you know what? You're a great sport. Your sense of humor is intact through this whole thing, and it has been in the hour or so that we've been talking to you. You've been terrific. Maureen has been terrific. The kids have great parents.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Was there -- and a terrific story to tell, by the way. The kids will have a great story when they go back to school.

So here's the thing. Were you able to get information from anyone, from anywhere, to give you some piece of mind that the cables -- that your chair and other chairs behind you and in front of you wouldn't be tossed? Who was giving you that information?

ATKINSON: Other skiers down below were the ones who were giving us the first information. The other -- all the ski patrol are working on the injured. So they couldn't get to the people -- you want to go home? Is that where we're going? The other people were trying to get to the people who are hurt, and then --

HARRIS: Yes.

ATKINSON: -- you know, that was their most important thing. I mean, you know, there were three or four chairlifts down on the ground. People were obviously hurt.

HARRIS: Right. OK, Robb. We're going to let you go on this.

Is Maureen with you?

ATKINSON: She is. Hold on.

HARRIS: Let me just talk to her very quickly.

MAUREEN ATKINSON, ROBB ATKINSON'S WIFE: Hi.

HARRIS: Maureen, hi. It's Chad Myers, it's Tony Harris and Josh Levs with you.

I need you to take a moment, collect your thoughts here, and I want you to describe for everyone watching us what you've been through this morning.

M. ATKINSON: Well, the first run was lovely. And we couldn't wait to get back on the chair lift and go again.

But once we got on, it just -- I don't know. It was kind of a jerk, and then we looked up above, and you could see kind of a big puff of snow.

And we didn't really understand what was going on until we heard people screaming from behind us that were looking up. And they said the cars just fell to the ground.

We thought, oh, my gosh. So it was scary.

And we were up there -- I guess we were up there for about an hour. You know, it's about 8 degrees up there. And a lot of wind. But they did an amazing job getting everybody off. I thought it was going to take a lot longer.

HARRIS: So, Maureen, last question. How are you going to spend the afternoon?

M. ATKINSON: We're going to go have lunch.

(LAUGHTER)

M. ATKINSON: We're going to go have lunch. We decided we're going to go again tomorrow. The skiing is actually great.

HARRIS: Oh, that's terrific. That is terrific. You guys are amazing. What sports, sense of humors intact. Terrific.

Thank you for, first of all, calling us. And thanks for walking us through this. What an ordeal, what an experience.

And put the lunch and the rest of the trip on the company, all right?

(LAUGHTER)

M. ATKINSON: Thanks. It was a crazy morning, but --

HARRIS: It was. And the best to you, Maureen. And the best to Robb and the kids.

Boy, let's take a break. We're back in a moment. We'll update the JFK story.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, there are travel nightmares and then there are travel nightmares to the extreme. And that's what we're following at JFK International Airport right now.

We've got a couple of flights, international flights, that landed at JFK. Apparently, there was some kind of snafu with Customs. There were agents who weren't available. We're still trying to get some clarity on that.

And Josh, do you have that statement from -- take your time. Take your time. I'm still resetting here. And let me know when you have it.

There was some snafu with Customs that folks on the planes were not allowed to deplane and go through Customs to get their bags. And now we have got the folks off the plane. They are now in the baggage claim area and they can't get their bags, and they're being told that you can't leave.

And Chad has explained why that's the case. And if you travel internationally, you know for yourself why that's the case, because you've got to get your bags to get through Customs, and so on and so forth.

Elise Zeiger, one of our intrepid producers, is at JFK International Airport right now.

And Elise, can you give us an update on where we are in this entire process?

ZEIGER: Sure. I'm seeing the baggage service door sort of open and close, but the sign there definitely on the door, says "Closed." I haven't seen any movement. And as you were saying, Tony, these past years (ph) are beyond outrage at this point, because not only have they been sitting on a tarmac after landing, quite delayed, sitting on a tarmac for five, six hours, but now they're waiting for their bags for the same amount of time.

I've got with me one passenger who is very upset. His name is Donald Nicholson (ph), flew Air France. He's from Scotland, but flew Air France, Paris to New York, landed in the middle of the night. As I said, sat on the tarmac for hours and hours and hours, and has now been waiting for his bags since early, early in the morning.

So, Tony, I'm going to put you on the phone with him. Again, his name is Donald Nicholson.

HARRIS: OK. Thank you.

ZEIGER: Here you go.

HARRIS: Hey, Donald, do you have the phone?

DONALD NICOLSON, AIR FRANCE PASSENGER (via telephone): Hi, Tony.

HARRIS: And Donald, it's a pleasure to talk to you, sir. I am so sorry about what you're enduring, this experience you're going through right now. I have a couple of questions.

Let me start with this -- what is the latest information that you're getting from Air France as to when you might get your bags so you can continue on with your trip?

: We're getting conflicting messages. From Air France, and just say anything to try and -- it's really frustrating, because we're getting conflicting messages. We don't know if something happened to the bags or something.

HARRIS: So, Donald who are you traveling with? How many are in your travel party right now? I'm just wondering, how many folks are with you, how many folks were even on that flight if we broaden it out a little bit who are in the same situation that you're in right now?

NICOLSON: No, no, just myself and fellow travelers, so to speak, but really, a situation that we all have together by experience of travel. Everyone else delayed for some people. Not sure if there's in any contingency plan. You can surely say we could get people's luggage through. What's expected for people to travel then we probably shouldn't arrive, what's the point of arriving when we don't have our baggage?

HARRIS: Well, here's my confusion. I'm pretty simple minded as an individual mostly, but you're traveling on an aircraft, your bags are traveling with you, what is the issue on the ground on the ground that you're getting conflicting stories. Isn't it as simple as baggage handlers get your bags off the plane and they process them through and you pick them up? Where is the breakdown here? What am I missing?

NICOLSON: Well, I know it's funny. The way I see it, clearly, a lot of the baggage handlers have been unable to make -- are you still there?

HARRIS: Yes, I'm still with you.

NICOLSON: All right. Clearly, those baggage handlers -- that should have been in the plans, they should have anticipated that and have a contingency plan in place. That's just good management.

A multinational company like Air France should have something like that in place. Not just doing whatever and try to get us of the bags. They're quite up tight, and I would certainly apologize about anything. And -- but it's understandable because we are frustrated, and we're not being informed. We're not able to make an informed choice and that's what is important.

HARRIS: I don't get this. This is maddening, it has to be for you, I'm sitting in a warm, comfortable studio and it's maddening for me. Donald, I wish you the best and to whatever extent you have some patience remaining, please make the best use of it. We are trying to get answers for you as well. I'm sure that CNN is on -- in the concourse somewhere, but we will try to continue to get information and pass that along to all of you traveling on that plane and stuck right now at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Donald, we appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Let's take a break. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: It is breaking news that we've been following for hours now. We're trying to sort up a situation at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. A number of international flights certainly landed and then that's when all the chaos began.

We understand the weather conditions have really hammered efforts to get air traffic in and out of domestic airports in the United States and certainly in the northeast corridor because there's so much snow on the ground.

But some of the problems some of these people are facing on some of these international flights just can't seem to be explained in a manner that makes any kind of sense. We just talked to a passenger who came in the country on an Air France flight who sat on the tarmac for hours and is now waiting for his bags and has no idea when he will get his bags.

And Josh, I know you've got someone on the phone who's in a similar situation right now.

LEVS: Yes, I mean, these stories are incredible, Tony. These people were on the tarmac after flying from other countries, landing just fine, safely at JFK. They ended up staying basically the entire night, five, six, seven hours in some case sitting on the tarmac.

Being told various things about why they couldn't get inside the airport and then once they got inside more craziness, one man who's been chronicling it was in a British Airways flight. His name is Matthew Bishop (ph).

Matthew, are you on with us?

MATTHEW BISHOP, NEW YORK BUREAU CHIEF, "THE ECONOMIST" (via telephone): Yes, I am.

LEVS: All right, great. Let's tell everyone you're in our profession. You're a journalist. You're the New York Bureau Chief for the Economist just happened to be on the plane. So talk to me, during all these hours that you were stuck on this plane overnight, what reasons were you given for what was going on?

BISHOP: You know, we landed on time at about 10:20 in the evening. Initially the pilot said, well, we're going to be going slowly in our taxi to the gate because the condition is so bad.

And then after a while, he said we're stuck in a cue behind six other planes, including one from Cathay Pacific come in from Hong Kong. Then after a while, we didn't get any messages and ended up hearing nothing really until about 5:30 in the morning.

LEVS: Nothing at all?

BISHOP: No, no, no explanation from the captain. You know various crew members have various theories. One of the likely theories was the immigration staff has gone home. And therefore, they couldn't allow plane loads of foreigners to come into the immigration hold, because there were no facilities there to accommodate them.

LEVS: I see --

BISHOP: And then when we eventually got to the gate at 6:00 a.m., we had to wait another half an hour before immigration would allow us off the plane.

LEVS: Did they say that. Did they say it was because there weren't staff or you're saying this a theory of some people on the plane?

BISHOP: Well, I mean, when we got to the gate at 6:00 a.m. they said we're not allowed to let you off before 6:00 a.m. because of immigration. Then we have to wait at immigration, getting off the plane, which they didn't do until around 6:30 and when we actually got to the immigration lounge.

There was the whole of the Cathay Pacific flight, which was about 300 people, plus the 300 or so from our flight all lined up and they were three guys from the Immigration Department. They're trying to process all these different people.

LEVS: There were three total trying to deal with everyone and all these different flights.

BISHOP: And eventually a fourth person came along.

LEVS: Different people on different flights. Not just your flights.

BISHOP: Yes - as well, yes.

LEVS: Well, listen, I want to reference -- I want to show you a statement here that we received from customs and border protection, because they are saying that at no point were customs officials sent home overnight. Those reports were incorrect, but you're not the only one who heard this. There were other people who were on other flights. Went on to say customs officials staffed them 24/365.

But there were other people who have heard similar things. Talk to me about the experience. So you get off the plane and finally, you manage to get all your stuff processed. How long does it take from there? Basically tweet, looks like you still had hours more to go before you could finally --

BISHOP: We go up to the gate at 6:00 a.m. We weren't allowed off the plane until 6:30ish and then, I guess, I'm not an American citizen. It took me over two hours to get processed by immigration, but actually a lot of Americans were also in line in the American immigration process and they were taking the best part of two hours to get processed as well. When we did get through the bags weren't off the plane. Eventually it was about 9:30, 9:45 that I got out to the terminal.

LEVS: Wow, Matthew --

BISHOP: So that means 12 hours after we landed.

LEVS: Unbelievable. Let's go back to those seven or so hours that you are on the plane. This is the nightmare a lot of people have. This kind of thing is the reason that passenger bills of rights exist.

What was it like for everyone on the plane? What was everyone doing to pass the time? Was there at least -- I understand there were problems getting food. Were they playing moves for you? Was there alcohol? What did they do to help you get through the night?

BISHOP: Two things in this case. One is a lot of people just went to sleep. It was 1:00 in the morning. A lot of people have also been delayed, and on flights that have been canceled early in the day so they were quite relieved that they have landed.

I think because we were told in London yesterday that we couldn't get on a plane yesterday and we might have to wait three, four days before we get on another plane. There was sort of relief that made this a lot more giving, and we might have been otherwise.

But it -- there was no drink service, if you asked for water, they would give it to you. They collected all of the head phones, so they didn't turn the entertainment back on because I guess they didn't want to hand out used headphones to people.

LEVS: Well, let me go on the board for a second here next to me. I want to see your tweets. Let's start with this one right here. This one came in. It says about six hours ago. At last, 7:35 after landing at JFK. British Airways flight 183 reaches its gate. Now just a brief wait for the start of immigration early shift.

Now let's go up to the next one you sent out. You said, when I said brief wait for immigration early shift, I was tempting fate. Still on board that flight. And finally you have this, phone about to die, 8:35 after two hours in security, rather, only four staff with 500-plus passengers, luggage still on the plane but it's good to be back.

People have been following your tweets big time and you can see why. I'm glad you made it back safely. You like us at CNN have a lot of questions about what happened here. We'll stay in touch with you, Matthew, about anything you found. Thank you so much for joining us. Tony --

HARRIS: All right. Let's do this. Let's take a break and when we come back we'll check on another New York Airport, LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Our Allan Chernoff is there. We're be back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Millions of people have been impacted by the Christmas blizzard. Another 4,100 plus flights canceled yesterday. And it could be Friday before everyone gets to where they are going. Thirty-two inches of snow well in Rahway, New Jersey, and Cape Cod saw wind gusts of, what, 80 miles per hour. At least five deaths have been reported. Four in the Carolina, one in Maine. All from icy roads.

And at the height of the storm, more than 118,000 homes and businesses lost power. All three major New York area airports are operating finally but the backlog has thousands of stranded holiday travelers still trying to reach their destinations.

Let's check in now with our senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff. He is at LaGuardia.

And if you would, Allan, describe the scene there.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, it's quite different from the scene that we've been describing at JFK Airport, which is not too far from where I'm standing. I mean it's one thing to be stuck in an airplane, having flown for hours and hours, quite another thing to be stranded at the airport. At least you can move around here, you can have something to eat. It's warm. It's not that uncomfortable.

So the folks we've been talking to over the past few days, they've generally been in quite good humor, understanding that the weather can't be battled and the airport is trying to come back after having been knocked down to the canvas, but it takes a few days. What's happened thus far during the first six hours of operation here, they've had 100 flight, arrivals and departures. Compare that to a typical, normal hour at LaGuardia Airport, 70 flights take off or land. So during six hour, they've done a little more business than they typically do during one hour.

Now, that ratio is going to be rapidly improving. You can see behind me, it's quite busy. There are lots of travelers coming in. Not all of them are getting satisfaction. You've got to be lucky to get your flight today.

For example, take the couple that I met earlier today. They're on their way back home to Alaska. They're flying to Chicago, Seattle, then up to Alaska. Well, then finally are getting their flight to Chicago after having been delayed for one day. Not bad. They felt they hit the jackpot. They didn't even have to pay for extra package today.

Compare them to the family that I met going to Dallas. They're here at LaGuardia for the fourth consecutive day trying to get on to a flight. Still don't know if they will -- Tony.

HARRIS: Oh, man, what a story. And, you know, so much of this is tied to weather. We've been talking for the last two hour and we need to actually spend some time talking about the weather. And Chad will give us an update on weather conditions in the New York area and beyond.

Let take a break now. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Want to get you to Chad Myers now in our severe weather center.

And, Chad, we've been talking so much about delays and problems and traffic related -- air traffic related problems and we've got iReports and we've got everything going here to demonstrate just how difficult conditions are in the Northeast right now and you're getting tweets and take it away, sir.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Here's ireport.com, CNN.com/iReport. This is what Brooklyn looks like. How long do you think it might take you to get to the airport if you have to walk?

HARRIS: That's a mess. Look at the truck. Look at the semi.

MYERS: It's just stuck. Just not going anywhere. This is this morning from "Brooklyn is better," an iReporter. I'm thinking he might be changing his mind at this point in time. I'm thinking maybe like South Padre might be better at this point in time.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

MYERS: Or maybe South Beach, but Brooklyn's (INAUDIBLE). There you go.

Still, our troubles at JFK and Newark had five-hour delays. New York LaGuardia now has called a ground stop. Let me describe what that means. That means that we have enough planes in the sky. You are not allowed to take off any more. So you'll notice that there are no planes from the west that have left recently to get to LaGuardia because that 70 number that they already have in the air, that's as many as they can handle at this point. There's 54 leaving, about 70 inbound. Well, that's a problem. If you have 16 more coming in than you have leaving, how are you going to get those planes out of there, because there is going to be a number of gates that are just going to be full. You're just not going to have a place to put it. There's not going to be a jet way for you to park your plane.

HARRIS: Yes.

MYERS: And this is what we've been hearing now. You know, we get -- I do something called -- I love this website.

HARRIS: Right.

MYERS: It's called Spy -- s-p-y -- dot app -- a-p-p -- spot -- s-p-o-t -- all one word, spy.appspot.com. You can put in whatever you want to spy on people. And I put in JFK. That's all I had to do.

HARRIS: Yes.

MYERS: And anybody who tweeted to anybody else, you think you're private? Well, no, you're not. I can see what you're sending to other people. And flight attendants have been saying to me and to other people, I can't even get to JFK.

HARRIS: Right.

MYERS: My plane's not going it take off. I'm stuck. That plane can't leave without me. Clearly my pilot probably can't get there either.

HARRIS: Right.

MYERS: That's why we can't get planes out of there because the people can't get to the airport. I'm assuming it's the same thing for TSA, it's the same thing for the baggage handlers and the same thing for the get -- trying to get these people to customs.

HARRIS: Now you can begin to see an explanation for this.

MYERS: Not enough people there (ph).

HARRIS: All right, Chad, appreciate it. Thank you.

Let's take a break. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: When we come back, Deb Feyerick in for Ali Velshi. NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)