Name: Travelers face flight cancellations, delay in return from Thanksgiving
Uploaded: 2025-12-01T14:27:29.485Z
Duration: 2 min 49 s
Description: Sunday was expected to be the busiest day of the Thanksgiving travel rush, but travelers across the Midwest dealt with a powerful winter storm while trying to return home. Over the weekend, more than 2,900 flights were canceled and 21,000 were delayed.

Sunday was expected to be the busiest day of the Thanksgiving travel rush, but travelers across the Midwest dealt with a powerful winter storm while trying to return home. Over the weekend, more than 2,900 flights were canceled and 21,000 were delayed.

Newark Liberty International Airport

Travelers returning from Thanksgiving encountered significant disruptions due to a powerful winter storm that affected large parts of the Midwest and Northeast United States. Airports such as Chicago O'Hare experienced gridlock, with more than 2,900 flights canceled and over 21,000 delayed since the weekend. 

In addition to weather-related delays, JetBlue canceled at least 25 flights due to safety concerns with its Airbus A320 aircraft, grounding more than a dozen planes for updates. Rail and road travel were also affected, including an Amtrak station evacuation after a train fire and heavy post-holiday traffic on highways.

Travelers face flight cancellations, delay in return from Thanksgiving

We're going to begin with that Thanksgiving travel rush. Did you get caught up? Record crowds and dangerous weather. It was a mess in a lot of places. Travelers in the Midwest had to deal with a powerful winter storm. It's blame for a 45-vehicle pile-up near Indianapolis. Yikes. And then a Delta flight from Detroit just slid off the taxiway in Des Moines. And there are still trouble spots out there today. We're going to get to that in just a minute. But first, Chris Van Cleve, where is he at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport with the latest air? Chris, good morning. What can you tell us? Well, good morning. Just a brutal weekend for people trying to get home from Thanksgiving. Now, the airlines will look to recover and get back to something like normal today. But they're starting with nearly 1,000 delays. And we are watching for the potential of weather disruptions again in Chicago, parts of the Midwest, and the Northeast. The trek home from Thanksgiving ran right into Mother Nature. I think I was supposed to take off like 7.30. And now it's looking around 11.30, quarter to 12. The major winter storm that swept across the Midwest gridlocked the busy Chicago O'Hare Airport. I'm Dave Malkoff. Look at this crowd at Chicago's O'Hare. This flight that's getting on board right now has been delayed since 5 AM. Ed and Vanessa have been here since 3. We were supposed to land at 9.30 this morning at home. And it is? It's already. 2 PM, central time. And the next flight, they booked us on leaves at 9.45 tonight. My original flight was yesterday. And then all of them got delayed and then canceled once I was on the plane. More than 2,900 flights were canceled, and over 21,000 delayed since Saturday. Our flight to San Francisco was canceled. So now we are going from here to Orlando. And then we're going from Orlando to San Francisco. The Des Moines Airport was closed for hours Sunday after a Delta regional jet skidded off an icy taxiway in heavy snow Saturday night. Sunday was met with chaos on the rails. An Amtrak station was evacuated after a fire on an Acela train. Police say it was caused by a mechanical issue and spread to three cars. Meanwhile, drivers were facing heavy traffic with more possible this afternoon. We came down to Denver from Wyoming to spend Thanksgiving with our son and daughter. I was surprised getting here how busy the gas station was. Now, besides the weather, JetBlue has been forced to cancel about at least 25 flights today because of an ongoing safety issue with the Airbus A320 family of airplanes. They have more than a dozen aircraft grounded until they can make some safety updates. Yesterday, JetBlue had to cancel about 170 flights, all of this coming on some of the busiest travel days of the Thanksgiving holiday. Sheesh. All right, Chris, thank you.

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