Winter storm to create headaches for holiday travelers

A snowy forecast for Christmas Day sounds ideal. But what might fall before Friday could create major headaches for holiday travelers.

Airlines are already struggling to re-schedule the flights they cancelled because of the weekend storm out east. Now we're getting ready for bad weather here.

1,500 miles away at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, there is a definite split among passengers headed to warm cities and cold destinations.

Those to or from Las Vegas or Phoenix are carefree.

"I don't know why anyone would want to leave the warm for the cold!" siad Barb Kauffman, who is waiting for a Phoenix arrival.

Those off to Chicago or Detroit, where delays are starting to stack up, not so much.

"I'm going from here to Detroit to Reagan in Washington D.C." said Sabrina Howell.

"There's always that domino effect, especially with Chicago or Detroit. You can get out of here and you might be delayed once you get there," said the Eastern Iowa Airport's Pam Hinman.

Hinman said passenger volume at the airport around Christmas is generally less than Thanksgiving and even Spring Break. She said people just need to be ready.

"Get here 90 minutes to two hours early. We'd rather have you sitting here and waiting than not." Hinman said. And keep that patience if you run into delays.

Here is the good news for many travelers, especially if their eastbound flights were postponed because of the storms. Monday has brought very few delays heading out of Cedar Rapids.

Chris Earl, KCRG-TV

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