TAMPA, Fla. — It doesn't matter if it's sunny over Tampa Bay: a winter storm sweeping across the Northeast is affecting air traffic here in Florida.
There have been at least 40 delays Monday at Tampa International Airport, plus 29 cancellations, according to tracking site FlightAware. Most affected flights include Southwest Airlines and American Airlines flights heading northeast, including to Charlotte, Washington, D.C., and Buffalo.
Monday's figure is a big improvement over Sunday when much of the Southeast and East Coast was being hammered with winter weather. And so far, as of this writing, Tuesday should be smooth flying in and out of Tampa with zero reported delays and cancellations.
American Airlines, which operates a large hub at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, told WCNC-TV many of its flights over the weekend were proactively canceled.
"The vast majority of impacted flights were canceled in advance so we could proactively notify and accommodate our customers and avoid last-minute disruptions at the airport," it wrote in a statement, in part.
While travel issues in recent weeks have been blamed on the omicron COVID-19 variant causing airline workers to call out sick, issues in recent days appear to be more weather-related. CNN reports about 20,000 flights were canceled over the holiday weekend alone.
The Points Guy notes that travelers affected by recent bad weather should be able to get help from their airline. All of them have announced travel waivers and other concessions.
A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines told the site: "Of the customers’ flights that were impacted, more than 85% have been given a new scheduled flight times within eight hours of their original flight."
