SAN JOSE — After days of punishing winter weather across much of the country ruined holiday flight plans nationwide, the Bay Area’s major airports are preparing for continued disruptions over the coming week, even as delays and cancellations began to subside Saturday with travel slowing for Christmas Eve.
“When the whole country is affected the way it was, it can take days before airlines can reset and rebook everyone,” said Scott Wintner, deputy director of the Mineta San Jose International Airport. “I would expect disruptions throughout the rest of the holiday season.”
At the airport Saturday morning, terminals were full of holiday travelers who grew more frustrated with each announcement over the PA system of another delay.
“I think they lied to us. They said the plane left Seattle and it hadn’t. And it takes 2 hours and 20 minutes from Seattle,” said Mischel Postas, of Campbell, who was bound for Austin, Texas, to see her daughter and grandsons for Christmas. “Nobody minds waiting if they tell you the truth.”
Local guitarist Fred McCarty, whom the airport hires during the holiday season to don a Santa hat and strum his guitar to brighten moods, struggled to entertain travelers trying to reschedule canceled flights.
“I say, ‘Do you want to hear a Christmas song?’ and they say, ‘Go away!’” McCarty lamented.
Despite the ongoing problems, Bay Area airports did get some respite from the crush of canceled flights earlier in the week. By Saturday afternoon, San Jose had 39 arriving and departing flights canceled, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. On Friday, there were a total of 88 cancellations. Meanwhile, Oakland International Airport listed 23 cancellations, down from 83 on Friday. And at San Francisco International Airport, 87 flights were canceled, down from 139.
“There’s no system-wide delay programs or round stops,” Bob Rotiski, airport duty manager in San Francisco. “It’s definitely a better operational day today.”
Nationally, about 2,700 flights were canceled by Saturday afternoon after nearly 6,000 were called off the day before.
As freezing rain and frigid cold continued to envelop many parts of the country, knocking out power to an estimated 1.7 million households and businesses, the weather in the Bay Area was forecast to stay mild and sunny through the weekend.
But a Spare the Air alert prohibiting wood burning remained in place through Christmas as weather patterns — including a high-pressure inversion layer over the Bay Area — acted as a lid on smoke and air pollution. Air quality index readings throughout the region surged past 100 Saturday morning, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Any reading between 101-150 means the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups, and anything above 151 means it’s unhealthy for everyone.
Brian Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the conditions should linger until a cold front bringing rain and wind is expected to move in and flush out the bad air by late Monday or early Tuesday.
“That’s going to be kind of like going into a decontamination shower,” Garcia said.
Forecasters anticipate the system could dump at least one to two inches of rain throughout the region and possibly as much as four inches in the coastal mountains.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.mercurynews.com