Just two days after Christmas, a blizzard has left travelers in the Northeast United States feeling anything but merry.
Airlines have canceled more than 5,000 flights, and the powerful storm has shut down La Guardia, John F Kennedy International and Newark International airports, stranding hundreds of holiday travelers.
Runways were expected to reopen this evening at several major airports in the Northeast. Still, hundreds of thousands of passengers missed flights Sunday and Monday into and out of Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
"It's the passengers that have already been waiting that are going to be waiting a long time," said Genevieve Shaw Brown, senior editor at Travelocity. "Everyone who has been stranded needs to fit into available seats."
Seats are already scarce because of the busy holiday season, and airlines are operating fewer flights than they did before the recession.
"It usually takes three to five days to re-accommodate everyone," said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. "Many passengers decide to get a refund and not travel."
'Cool heads will prevail'
Boston's Logan Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said airlines were saying that rebooking could drag into Friday — the start of another holiday weekend.
Patience might be the most effective tool for travelers who are stranded. "Employees are doing their best, airports are doing their best," said Glen MacDonnell, AAA's director of travel services. "Cool heads will prevail."
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The East Coast digs out
Airlines move planes away from the path of big storms to prevent them from being stranded. Now the airlines have to get those planes back to the Northeast before they can fly stranded passengers home. They may also have to ferry pilots and flight attendants into the affected areas.
American Airlines spokesman Ed Martelle said if the weather clears by Tuesday, the airline can resume a normal schedule by Wednesday. He declined to say how long stuck passengers might wait for an empty seat.
"Any airline scheduler will tell you it's like playing with a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces keep changing shape," he said. "In some cases we can't give them a new seat because we don't know" when one will be available.
Stick around the airport
"As long as flights are going out, there's always a chance — however slim — that you'll get that last seat on the plane, so if I were desperate to fly I'd stick around the airport and keep trying," said Hobica.
On Monday, American canceled 252 flights and sister carrier American Eagle scratched another 194. Delta Air Lines canceled 700 flights, US Airways canceled 690 including regional flights, and Southwest dropped 188. United spokesperson Mike Trevino said the airline canceled 175 flights.
"Airlines are not obligated to put you up in a hotel or to feed you because of weather," said AAA's MacDonnell.
"You need to be as flexible as you possibly can," added Travelocity's Shaw Brown. "[Travelers] have to suck it up and pay for it. Airlines are not responsible for things that are out of their control."
Fewer flights, more passengers
U.S. airlines have not fully replaced all the flights they eliminated in 2008 and 2009 to save money and fuel. Planes are packed with more passengers — occupancy averaged around 80 percent in November and was expected to be higher during the holidays. That means fewer empty seats the rest of the week to accommodate people whose flights were canceled Sunday and Monday.
Airline reservation centers were kept busy fielding calls from displaced travelers, some of whom reported being put on hold for more than an hour. Continental tweeted that it was taking as many calls as it could handle, asking passengers to be patient. American said it called in extra employees to staff the phone lines.
Some travelers were settling in for a long and uncomfortable stay at the airport.
At New York's Kennedy Airport, 22-year-old Eric Schorr and other Columbia University students boarded an El Al flight to Israel Sunday afternoon, only to get stuck on the tarmac when it became clear the plane wouldn't take off.
"They had served us dinner, they were giving us drinks, trying to keep passengers calm, cool and collected," said Schorr, who was told he would be put on another flight Monday night.
"It wasn't as tense as you might have thought," he said, but added, "People are exhausted — they want to get home."
Travel writer Jason Cochran has been at the airport since 4 p.m. Sunday. He says he boarded his flight to London and was then stuck on the plane for hours before the flight was canceled.
He hasn't been able to get back to his Manhattan home because there's no way to leave the airport. Cochran said he's only seen one taxi, and the driver wanted $100 to take him home.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.