Fewer Charlotte flights canceled or delayed, but Debby still causing trouble
Tropical Storm Debby is continuing to frustrate passengers at Charlotte’s airport on Tuesday — but it’s a lot better than Monday when Debby was a hurricane.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport saw a big drop in canceled or delayed flights. As of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, 137 flights were delayed and 56 were canceled at CLT, according to according to FlightAware, an online website providing real-time information. That’s 193 flight disruptions.
On Monday, there was a total of 640 flights disrupted. Some 168 were canceled at Charlotte Douglas and another 472 were delayed.
Debby made landfall in Steinhatchee, Florida, around 7 a.m. Monday, bringing several feet of storm surge. It brought 80 mph sustained winds to the state’s Big Bend region, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The storm is expected to move offshore of Georgia’s coast later Tuesday, with flood threats over portions of Georgia and the Carolinas, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters said the Charlotte region should see several inches of rain from the storm this week.
American Airlines accounts for about 87% of all flights out of CLT. Officials continue to monitoring the track of the storm, according to spokeswoman Bri Harper.
The company issued a travel alert for customers whose travel plans are affected to rebook without change fees. Customers can reschedule their travel on aa.com or by contacting reservations at 800-433-7300 in the United States or Canada.
“American will continue tracking this system with our customers’ and team members’ safety top of mind,” Harper said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday. Airport officials are advising passengers to check the status of their flights before coming to Charlotte Douglas.
American Airlines monitoring Debbie in the Carolinas
Due to storm conditions, American Airlines has canceled Florida operations at several airports.
Normal operations have resumed in Gainesville, Jacksonville, Key West, Orlando, Sarasota, Tallahassee and Tampa.
American is now monitoring operations at airports in the Carolinas and Georgia. This includes Charleston, Columbia, Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, Wilmington and Savannah, Georgia.
Debbie upends plans for CLT passengers
Eddie Love and his wife Neringa waited on the tarmac for over an hour after returning to Charlotte from Frankfurt, Germany, on Saturday because of Hurricane Debby.
But their frustrations did not stop there. They returned to the airport on Monday for his lost luggage at the American Airlines baggage service office. “This is like a zombie movie,” Eddie Love said while looking at the long lines and ceiling construction. “You got wires hanging down and a bunch of people crawling over each other.”
They were among the thousands of people who saw Hurricane Debby wreak havoc on their weekend travel plans at Charlotte’s airport, and the misery extended into Monday.
Over the weekend, Charlotte Douglas had a total of 1,651 canceled or delayed. As of 5 p.m Monday, more than 400 flights were delayed or canceled out of one of the world’s busiest airports.
‘It’s just a mess’
Count Baltimore cousins Wanda Lewis and Laci White among the many who were frustrated. They missed their Royal Caribbean cruise to The Bahamas. Lewis and White were on their way to Orlando, Florida, with a connecting American Airlines flight in Charlotte.
“The communication (from American Airlines) is awful,” White said Monday. “We didn’t know the flights were canceled until we got here.”
“If they would have told us in Baltimore, we would have never came to Charlotte,” Lewis added.
Lewis and White were trying to get back home to Baltimore at this point, but the airline said their bags were in Orlando.
“It’s just a mess,” White said.
Hoping for the best at CLT
As for the Loves, Eddie was waiting near the American Airlines office when a smiling employee wheeled his suitcase to him on Monday. It put a smile on his face too. As someone who enjoys traveling and as an operator of ILoveCarolina.com, a tourism website, he wants conditions at the airport to improve, regardless of weather events.
“I’m hoping in two years, we’ll have a nice airport like Heathrow Airport in London or Frankfurt Airport,” he said. “We love this city and we just want it to get better.”
Observer editor Lisa Vernon-Sparks contributed to this story.
This story was originally published August 5, 2024 at 10:56 AM.
