Winter Weather Threat Inconveniences Travelers At DFW
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The freezing rain scare left roads ice-free, but they caused some inconvenience at DFW International Airport. Nearly 500 flights in all were cancelled in two days, out of fear runways might be too slippery for big aircraft to safely take off and land. The cancellations were pre-emptive on the part of the airlines. A a few people there high and dry, but mostly it forced travelers to re-book from home.
Jan Prows from Salt Lake City was one of them. "We got the message about an hour before we left to go to the airport," she said. Jan and husband Jeff Prows are fortunate; their airline called them early enough Sunday so they could make other arrangements and still make their flight to Cancun. "Got re-ticketed and stuff, stayed at home," she said, "stayed the night, at least we didn't get all the way to the airport and have to go all the way home again."
But they had planned to spend last night in North Texas...with Jeff's mom, who's now disappointed. "Well, I haven't seen her for a number of years so we want to see her, and we'll see her on the way back, we hope," Jeff Prows told CBS 11 News.
Still, their inconvenience was minor compared to a few unlucky souls who had to spend the night. Not many, according to DFW; but a few, said PIO David Magana. "Most people were able to be accommodated either by hotels or staying home or those kinds of things, so we did not see very many people stuck here overnight."
While the area just missed the rain freezing on roads, jets had to be de-iced anyway. That takes an extra 20 minutes. There were more scheduled flights than slots open to de-ice, so that also forced some cancellations, according to Magana. "We were planning to have de-icing available because of the forecast and also because many of the planes that were supposed to be here last night just weren't here."
With 180 cancellations today, flights got back to normal by afternoon. The airport returned to hosting customers during one of the busiest travel times of the year, and luring them to make purchases here with the promise of free shipping for anything bought. And in terminal D, even free gift wrapping most afternoons. The airport believes some 2.1 million passengers will go through DFW from the Thursday before Thanksgiving until the Thursday after it.
(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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