Canceled flights force air travelers to scramble for seats

After a day and a half of canceled flights, travelers once again took to the skies in Cedar Rapids.

But re-booking all the people who missed flights isn't easy.

The problem with flying out of Cedar Rapids Thursday wasn't the weather. Instead, people who missed flights late Tuesday and all day Wednesday had to compete with fliers booked Thursday, and that meant a scramble for seats

You'd have to forgive Dereck Fangman for napping on the terminal floor. The Hawaii-based Marine got stuck one night at the San Francisco airport and another night in Chicago just waiting for enough clear weather to finally get home.

"Everytime I'd hear someone complain about the weather and I'm stuck in the airport watching everybody else leave going to other states...the lucky," Fangman said.

Another traveler heading overseas actually braved the worst of the weather to drive to the airport on Wednesday. Ten minutes before he arrived, he discovered his flight was finally cancelled.

"I thought it would be like that but I had to go because the flight was not cancelled so far...it was a risky ride anyway," said Vogusliv Zynga, who is flying to Germany.

Zynga lucked out in getting a confirmed seat once flying resumed here.

With airlines cutting schedules, many flights have fewer empty seats to accommodate travelers disrupted by the weather.

One man waiting for a passenger felt fortunate they booked the trip for today instead of yesterday.

"We're pretty lucky...we just picked the right day I guess," said Mike MaCormick.

Airport managers say it's not just people who may have trouble getting back on track after all the weather disruptions.

A lot of luggage probably got scrambled too with all the cancelled flights.

The airport in Cedar Rapids lost about 35 flights Wednesday and a few Tuesday evening.

So that's a lot of travel space to make up on short notice.

Dave Franzman, KCRG-TV