The winter storm blasting the east coast has canceled thousands of flights in the U.S. to major airports in the northeast, including many at Southwest Florida International Airport. Thursday, travelers were scrambling to make alternate travel plans. Flights to airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia were scrapped due to the storm.
"We're flying via Philadelphia, but the flight's been canceled due to the weather," said Harriet Holder, who was trying to catch a connecting flight home to London, England with her family. They spent hours Thursday trying to find some way to get back across the Atlantic.
"(American Airlines) tried to fly us out of Miami, but every flight going to London is full," she said. "There aren't many flights that go the way we want to go, so we don't really have much choice."
Others are having similar problems.
"We don't know when we'll get back home," said Robert of Munich, Germany, who was trying to get home with his wife and two daughters. "Our connecting flight is canceled in New York because of the weather."
Mio DeLauro and a few friends just got out of New Jersey in the nick of time - before the winter storm shut airports down back home.
"We were the only ones that didn't get canceled, so we were pretty excited," DeLauro said.
Especially after her dad texted her a picture of the family car, buried under ice and snow.
"Even though it's a little cold here, we're still super happy we're not dealing with that," she said.
Around four thousand flights nationwide were either canceled or delayed due to the severe winter weather. Travelers flying from Southwest Florida International Airport are encouraged to check ahead online about their flight's status at www.flylcpa.com, or their airline's web site.
