The line stretches out the door at Terminal 4 as passengers attempt to check in for their flights.
“We arrived and the line was already out the door. It’s chaotic here. We waited in one line, only to find out it was the wrong one—a waste of 40 minutes. Then they told us to join this line,” said passenger Tom Shea.
Despite waiting more than an hour, Shea is lucky—his flight to Myrtle Beach is still scheduled. However, storms in other parts of the country and a shortage of TSA agents, some of whom are calling out or quitting due to lack of pay, have caused nearly 700 flight delays and almost 500 cancellations at our two airports.
“They told us it was canceled as soon as we reached the counter. We waited in line for an hour,” complained Will Green, who is trying to get home to Cleveland. Now, he’s waiting in the cancellation line, hoping for good news.
“It’s very frustrating. Now we don’t know if we’re getting out today,” he said.
Clint Henderson, a travel expert with The Points Guy, said, “It’s a real travel mess out there again today.”
He explained that today’s disruptions are due to a combination of factors.
“There are storms, but it’s also a perfect storm of other issues. The government shutdown is impacting TSA workers, so there are fewer of them and lines are longer. Plus, with spring break, there are more people flying,” he said.
Henderson suggests that if your flight is canceled and you can’t reach your airline, try contacting them on social media. He says this strategy worked for him when he was recently stranded.
“I ended up reaching out to the American Airlines team on X (formerly Twitter) and was able to get rebooked that way. So, use all the tools in your toolbox,” he said.
