Winter Storm Elliot still causing flight delays, cancellations

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Flight delays and cancellations are still rolling in after a deadly winter storm struck the east coast of the United States. Today is one of the busiest travel days of the year and thousands of flights have already been delayed or canceled this morning.

Before the day even started, Flight Aware said Southwest Airlines canceled about 60 percent of the day’s flights.

[Southwest under scrutiny after wave of storm cancellations]

The app also showed 20 flight cancellations and 15 delays at Charlotte Douglas International Airport alone. Across the country, the numbers are much higher. We’ve seen a little over 400 total delayed flights and nearly 3,000 canceled flights.

Winter Storm Eliot has put pressure on airline ground crews because they can only be outside exposed to the extreme cold for so long at a time. We talked with a few travelers early this morning who say they’ve hit quite a few bumps along the way. One man coming home from spending the holidays in Paris says delayed and canceled flights have set his travel plans back by a full day

“We flew all the way over to Chicago and our flight got initially delayed two hours and we had a five-hour layover. We were stuck over there from mechanical issues or something,” said traveler Luke Ledbetter. “Coming back in after the holidays and getting back into a weekly routine and figuring out what we’re going to do next. It has thrown off plans. We were supposed to get here yesterday but we got here today. It has just been chaos with all the snow and everything.”

So, if you’re traveling today be sure to pack your patience and check your flight status frequently on your airlines app.

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