'Hanging by a thread right now': Winter weather impacting travel at Tampa International Airport

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Much of the United States is seeing brutally cold temperatures and dangerous wind chill. The winter storm is causing travel nightmares and impacting some passengers at Tampa International Airport. As of Monday at 4 p.m., the airport saw 160 delays and 44 cancellations. “We’re kind of juggling where to go where to stay and hanging by a thread right now,” said Doug Wilson, from Kansas City, Missouri.

Wilson went on a cruise and is has been trying to return home to Kansas City. “Yesterday we were flying out of San Juan to Tampa connecting to a flight to Kansas City before we left San Juan,” Wilson continued. “We knew the connecting flight had been canceled and nothing was really available early today.” “We found an American Airlines flight that goes to Charlotte this evening into Kansas City late tonight,” he added.

“We feel like we’re OK getting into Charlotte but the plane we’re going to need to get to Charlotte to Kansas City is coming out of Chicago.” That’s where many flights are stalled. Raquel Vore and her sister have been trying to catch a flight back to Texas since Sunday afternoon. “At this point we are just here having to wait it out, there’s nothing we could do,” said Vore.

Since it’s weather related, many airlines are telling passengers they’re not offering vouchers or help leaving them to wait it out. “There’s been a lot of delays now trying to even get it on the tram going to one terminal to another has been difficult because there’s just so crowded,” said Dell Brown, from Washington D.C.

It’s not just weather causing the cancellations. A TPA spokesperson said at least 10 flights were cancelled due to the FAA’s mandated inspections of the Boeing Max 9..