SAN ANTONIO – Travelers hoping to head out of San Antonio International Airport early Tuesday morning found that nature had changed their plans for them.
Winter storms that dumped snow and ice all across the U.S. also impacted travelers in San Antonio, causing numerous flights to be canceled or delayed.
According to Tonya Hope, public relations manager for SAT, the first outgoing flight of the day didn’t take to the skies until just before 10 a.m.
Anything scheduled to leave before that time was canceled or rescheduled.
“We’re just out here waiting for someone,” said Kashanda Pellerin, who works for a company called ABM.
On most mornings, Pellerin would be busy shuttling passengers in wheelchairs to their flight gates.
Because of the cancellations, though, Pellerin had time to catch up with co-workers.
Both airport terminals appeared to be nearly abandoned at one point.
Later, as flight traffic resumed, passengers filtered in, only for some to be greeted by more bad news.
“We’re going to skip all the cold weather here, so I’m thankful for that. I feel bad for the ones I leave behind,” said Linda Callibrais while laughing.
Callibrais, who was headed to Las Vegas, says she found out on her way to the airport that her 11:30 a.m. flight was delayed at least two hours.
In most cases, the individual airlines had notified passengers of the changes as early as Monday night, Hope said.
Although Brian Ellingboe and his group of friends arrived at the airport knowing they were in for a wait, they found out later that it would be even longer than expected. Their morning flight, at last check, was not expected to leave until early afternoon.
“Fingers still crossed. We’re hoping to get out,” Ellingboe said optimistically. “The weather’s supposed to be clearing up here.”
Meanwhile, members of a high school choir from Minnesota were hoping their luck would hold up beyond San Antonio. They still had to make a connecting flight to Denver.
“We had a little bit of a delay,” said Kara Rysavy. “We’re hoping nothing gets canceled because then we have to figure out what to do with 42 people on our way back.”
One place where there wasn’t much waiting at all was at the security checkpoints. The long lines that often exist were nowhere to be seen.
Although some late afternoon flights were still scheduled for delays, Hope said she had not heard about any additional trouble expected Wednesday.
Hope later released this statement:
The winter storm is causing flight delays and cancellations across the United States, impacting many flights at San Antonio International Airport (SAT).
Flight Operations at SAT continue to be monitored by the team to ensure the safety of our travelers.
If travel is necessary, please use caution and check the status of your flight at FlySanAntonio.com
