Service at LaGuardia Airport was closer to normal Saturday as about 1 in 10 flights were grounded – a big improvement from the previous two days when mass cancellations ravaged the facility.
As of 3:30 p.m., 33 or 10% of scheduled flights from the Queens hub were canceled and a further 38 were delayed, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.com. Despite many complaints from uncomfortable passengers, the service was still a big improvement.
On Thursday, more than a third of all flights at the airport were canceled on one of the worst travel days this summer – and chaos spilled over into Friday, when by late afternoon 19% of flights were canceled and another 24% were delayed, mostly due to stormy weather .
The metro area’s other two main airports, JFK in Queens and Newark Liberty International, also saw significant improvements on Saturday after days of delays.
The number of canceled flights has improved from the past two days, with 1 in 10 flights canceled at LaGuardia on Saturday. DANIEL WILLIAM MCKNIGHT
At LaGuardia on Saturday, passengers were still angry at many airlines’ sporadic service.
Melina Carrillo, 36, said her Delta Airlines flight to Toronto was canceled three times. She said Delta offered her and her significant other no assistance other than getting them on a later flight — not even a meal voucher.
“There’s not even a comfortable seat here to wait more than two hours,” she said. “I will definitely not be using Delta or LaGuardia in the future.”
Travelers were still frustrated by flight cancellations at New York City Airport on Saturday. DANIEL WILLIAM MCKNIGHT
A man named “Denny,” who declined to give his last name, said the delays caused him to miss a family event in Calgary on Friday and planned to fly there Saturday night. He also said Delta didn’t offer him any meal or hotel vouchers.
“People who fly often, we understand that you can’t avoid the weather. If it’s a hurricane or a major storm, you have to deal with it, but Delta should be able to deal with the aftermath of that,” he said. “It seemed like all the workers didn’t want to be here at all.”