Plane, Bus Travel Stymied By Weather
By D.R. STEWART AND TOM DROEGE World Staff Writers
Most commercial airline operations were canceled by early afternoon Friday at Tulsa International Airport as freezing rain coated aircraft and pavement surfaces with a sheet of ice, airport officials said.
Meanwhile, about 25 passengers were stranded at Tulsa’s Greyhound Bus Station after highways became unsafe.
Airports Director Jeff Mulder advised airline passengers to call their airline or check their airline’s flight schedule before leaving home for the airport. Flight schedules are available on Tulsa International’s Web site at www.tulsaairports.com.
“The airlines are being pre-emptive, canceling flights because of existing and forecast conditions,” Mulder said. “In this kind of weather, freezing rain, it’s very hard to de-ice an airplane and get the aircraft off the ground safely.”
American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said most of American’s flight cancellations systemwide were in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. American canceled six flights from Dallas-Fort Worth to Oklahoma City on Friday.
“We’ve canceled six flights into Tulsa on Friday, four from Dallas-Fort Worth and two from Chicago,” Wagner said. “The way it’s shaping up, it doesn’t look good for Tulsa on Saturday either.”
Between noon and 5:30 p.m. Friday, 20 of 25 departing flights were canceled at Tulsa International Airport. During the same span, 18 of 25 arriving flights were canceled.
The Federal Aviation Administration said flight delays were a problem at only two airports on Friday: Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Newark International Airport in New Jersey.
Due to storms and low cloud cover, arriving flights were delayed an average of one hour and 32 minutes at O’Hare, the FAA said. Storms and high winds at Newark delayed arriving flights an average of 51 minutes, the agency said.
Jackie Gathright of Fort Smith, Ark., was stranded at the airport after her flight to Sacramento, Calif., was canceled.
She said she had a good book and planned to sleep at the airport Friday night.
“I’m looking at it as an adventure,” Gathright said.
Rachael Salyer of Grove managed to get on her 10:50 a.m. flight, but the plane never got off the ground.
The passengers sat on the plane for three hours before they were told to get off because the flight was canceled.
She said she felt lucky to get a hotel room in Tulsa and hopes to get out of town on Monday.
At the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Tulsa, things weren’t moving any faster.
Felipe Castillo, manager of the bus station, said about 25 passengers were stranded in Tulsa when bad weather made roads unsafe.
No buses are likely to get out of the city until Saturday at the earliest, he said.
Until then, the passengers are getting food and are being allowed to stay on a warm bus, he said.
“We’re watching out for the safety of our passengers,” he said.
Sasha Dalton, 21, headed from Arizona to Minnesota was one of the stranded bus passengers.
“I’m going to have to sleep at the bus station because I have no place to go, and I have no money,” Dalton said.
D.R. Stewart 581-8451
don.stewart@tulsaworld.com
Tom Droege 581-8361
tom.droege@tulsaworld.com
Check flight schedules
Check on your flights before you go to the airport:
Flight schedules are available on Tulsa International’s Web site at www.tulsaairports.com.
For more information on scheduled flights:
American Airlines: (800) 433-7300 or www.aa.com.
Champion Air: (800) 387-6951 or www.championair.com.
Continental Airlines: (800) 525-0280 or www.continental.com.
Delta Connection: (800) 221-1212 or www.delta.com.
Frontier Airlines: (800) 432-1359 or www.flyfrontier.com.
Northwest Airlink: (800) 225-2525 or www.nwa.com.
Southwest Airlines: (800) 435-9792 or www.southwest.com.
United Airlines: (800) 241-6522 or www.united.com.
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