Many Christmas Eve travelers around the country got what they wished for — few airport delays and highways that were mostly clear, despite a deadly weekend snowstorm in the Plains and the Midwest.
Even the usually congested airports in the New York area — Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark-Liberty — reported departure delays of less than 15 minutes by Monday afternoon, with outbound flights taking off on time.
“The weather is pretty clear, and there are no significant issues,” said Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the three airports.
East Coast rail travel appeared to be running smoothly, too. New York’s usually frenetic Pennsylvania Station seemed sedate Monday, with people ambling to their trains. “Everything was great — so far. We still have one more leg of the journey,” said Sandra Patti, who was headed from New Jersey to Long Island to see family on Christmas.
Travelers flocking to the Little Rock, Ark., airport also had smooth sailing by afternoon. About 118,000 people were expected to pass through the airport during the Dec. 17-Jan. 7 holiday travel period, an increase of about 7,000 over the same time last year, said airport spokesman Philip Launius.
“We were a little concerned about this year because the economy has not been good,” Launius said.
Economics did strand some travelers Monday. MAXjet Airways abruptly ceased operations between New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and London as the all-business-class airline said it would file for bankruptcy protection. The five-plane airline reserved hotel rooms for stranded passengers.
Elsewhere, no early major delays were reported at the Los Angeles airport or Chicago’s O’Hare.
Lines at security also were relatively short, said Los Angeles International spokesman Albert Rodriguez. “People have gotten good about knowing what to pack and what not to pack, and just packing smart,” he said.
There were backups at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, but they were caused by people driving around the terminals waiting to pick up arriving travelers. Cars were backed up as much as half a mile, said spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher.
A snowstorm across the Plains and Midwest blacked out thousands of homes and businesses and snarled air travel over the weekend. The storm was blamed for at least 22 traffic deaths in the upper Midwest.
Air travelers in western Michigan ran into problems Monday because of an overnight power failure at Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids. Service was not restored until late morning.
