Atlanta airport back to normal, but many passengers still wait

ajc.com

Atlanta airport’s atrium continued to serve as a dormitory of sorts on Tuesday for hundreds of passengers still waiting to reach their destinations after the power outage caused cancellations and delays.

Even as the airport sprang to life Tuesday morning, many of those who slept in chairs and benches remained curled up in blankets fighting for a few more minutes of shut-eye.

Rashaad Brennan created a makeshift bed by using an airport wheelchair to rest his feet and legs. This was not how his he envisioned the end of his stay in Atlanta.

“It was supposed to be like just the weekend, but it turned into, unfortunately, until Wednesday,” Brennan said.

He flew in from Philadelphia for a fun trip with a group of friends. He had booked the first flight out on Monday, but on the way to the airport Brennan received an email. The outage had caused his flight to be cancelled, and he was rebooked on a plane that didn't take off until Wednesday.

Flight Aware reported 817 flights were cancelled at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Sunday and Monday. The number was down to just five on Tuesday. Most airlines, including Delta and Southwest, reported that their operations were back to normal.

However, there isn't an easy way to track how many passengers still haven't made it to their destinations. The morning scene at the atrium is just one indication.

It didn’t help Brennan that his trip on American Airlines had been booked using a third-party website. The airline said it couldn’t offer much help to him, and the website’s customer service representatives had no idea how to respond.

Brennan spent Monday walking the unsecured areas of the airport and spending money. “I’ve been eating and drinking,” he said.

TSA told him he couldn’t go through the security line until midnight on the day of his flight. He planned to find the same spot in the atrium for his second night of airport sleeping.

Andy Tran and Nizzie Do also spent Monday night in the atrium. Do napped for a few hours on a hard, circular bench while Tran played games on his phone.

“My back is really hurting right now,” she said. He found it too uncomfortable to sleep.

The couple was flying from San Jose, Calif., to Biloxi, Miss., to spend the holidays with her mother. When they landed in Atlanta on Monday evening, they learned their connecting flight had been delayed until 4 p.m. Tuesday.

A 45-minute layover had turned into an overnight stay. Another friend flying to Biloxi on a different airline had the same experience.

Airlines have been working to get customers to their final destinations after Sunday's shutdown caused flight interruptions across the country. Delta said Tuesday that all passengers who faced cancellations had been booked on new flights, although some of these flights could be later in the week.

Only a few of Delta flights from Atlanta were cancelled Tuesday. Southwest reported no cancellations. Together, these airlines account for 84 percent of all Hartsfield-Jackson passengers.

Some of those who have made it home are still without their luggage. The power outage caused the airport’s baggage services to be disabled.

As of Tuesday evening, about 800 bags for Delta customers were waiting to be delivered to people in the Atlanta-area. Just 1 percent of the bags that needed to be connected with Delta flyers elsewhere remained. Southwest is holding luggage at the airports of passengers’ final destinations.

Sara Piche had her bags and a Delta itinerary by Tuesday morning; the only thing she needed was to get home.

The University of Georgia student said she was prepared for her flight on Sunday to be cancelled. She drove back to Athens that night, rising early Monday morning to make her rescheduled flight at 7 a.m. That is when Piche learned that Spirit Airlines had cancelled all trips to Boston, her hometown.

She got her money back, but it was a couple hundred dollars short of what she needed to book on a new airline. Her parents scrambled to add money to her bank account to cover the difference, but everything Piche found was sold out.

Eventually, Piche booked a Tuesday flight on Delta, arriving at the airport after spending the night at a friend’s home in Atlanta.

“I travel a lot being in school now; I just kind of underestimated how things can go wrong,” she said. “I was just not prepared for how hard it was going to be with something this big happening.”