Travel

NY air travelers avoid major delays

New York air travelers  “dodged a bullet” Wednesday morning, as havoc wrought by a winter nor’easter failed to cripple the area’s biggest airports, officials said.

By mid-morning,  LaGuardia Airport was showing only slight delays – no more than two hours – and a relatively low 50 cancellations, according to  Thomas Bosco, Port Authority  Interim Aviation Director.

“Delays are scattered – some flights are delayed by an hour and a half on arrival,” Bosco told reporters.

“So far, we dodged the bullet.”

A “lull” in the weather – including an end to the heavy rain that fell through Tuesday night into early Wednesday – has helped, Bosco said.

But storm winds – with gusts of up to 60 miles an hour — are expected to pick up later in the day. More than 1.3 million passengers are expected to pass through LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports over Thanksgiving weekend.

The Federal Aviation Administration warned that all three airports are subject to ground delays as the storm continues to move through.

Anxious New Yorkers worried about making it to out-of-town turkey dinners were at LaGuardia by dawn, with a line snaking through security checkpoints.

Passenger Linette Ottey, 85,  fretted as she waited for word on her delayed American Airlines flight to Chicago, where she hopes to spend Thanksgiving with her granddaughter and great-granddaughter.

“I hope I will get out on a flight today,” said Ottey, who uses a walker and arrived at the airport  at 6:15 am for her scheduled 8:50 am flight. ““I got a call that said the flight was going to now leave at 11, but then I got another call that said we’re leaving at 10:15 am.

“I’m just hoping for the best. I’m 85 years old and I go through so much to even decide to travel with my disabilities,” the retired Bronx nurse said.

Flight delays here would cause a ripple effect at airports elsewhere, forcing delays for both departing and arriving flights.

Brian Mukerjee, 50, was patiently waiting with his wife and two young kids for a flight to Kansas City.

“I’m surprised when the flights are on time,” he cracked.

More than two inches of rain fell on the New York area between late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Flooding and road closings snarled traffic in Westchester, New Jersey  and on Staten Island, and  most surrounding highways were reporting fender benders and car spinouts on the slick roads.

While the rain is expected to die down by late Wednesday, winds will pick up throughout the day, and temperatures – near 60 early in the day —  will plummet to below freezing,  according to the National Weather Service.

The NWS warned that the storm would pack dangerous wind gusts of up to 60 mph.

“The timing of the storm couldn’t be worse,” said NWS spokesman Chris Vaccaro.  “We are seeing numerous threats as the storm is beginning to develop and intensify.”