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Widespread winter blast strands holiday travelers
A blast of winter in the nation's northern tier stranded travelers far and wide just a few days before Christmas, with dozens of flights delayed or canceled and bus passengers sleeping on cardboard at a Seattle terminal. A weekend storm dumped about 5 inches of snow around Seattle by Sunday morning, and it snowed anew all afternoon, with the National Weather Service predicting up to 4 inches more by Monday morning. Storms in the Northeast and Midwest also produced travel headaches for those trying to get home by road, rail and air. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, one of the world's busiest, canceled about 150 flights Sunday.

Some flights arrived two to three hours late Sunday at New York's Kennedy Airport and Boston's Logan Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, though delays diminished later in the evening.

Even fair-weather airports weren't immune from tie-ups. George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston had delays averaging about five hours, and flights from Atlanta to Boston and New York were also delayed. Two of the three runways at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were operating, but airlines canceled scores of flights Saturday and Sunday, leaving several hundred people wondering when they'd get on a plane, airport spokesman Perry Cooper said. Alaska and Horizon airlines suspended all service Sunday afternoon.

Several airlines urged passengers to rebook flights online from their homes, rather than clog ticket counters. Virgin America encouraged passengers not to fly out of Seattle on Sunday by waiving ticket-change fees for anyone who decided to stay home. The airport in Portland, Ore., also remained open, albeit with many canceled flights.

Those hoping to save money in tough economic times by taking the bus were stymied. A few dozen passengers were stranded at Greyhound's Seattle terminal Sunday, with no buses running, and some people had been there for days. Fed up, some passengers rented cars and braved the slippery roads on their own.

Greyhound spokesman Eric Wesley in Dallas said the company was doing what it could. The company reported delays in between Seattle and Billings, Mont.; Portland, Ore.; and Vancouver, British Columbia. "We're going to do our best to take care of the passengers," he said. "We'll wait and see what the weather does before we put any passengers on the highway."

Amtrak also canceled train service Sunday between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver; and between Seattle and Spokane. Service from Seattle to Los Angeles was still running, but with "extreme delays," Amtrak said in a news release. Tatiana Rokou - Wednesday, December 24, 2008