Tiffany Hornback of Palm Beach Gardens made the three-hour trek from the University of Alabama to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on Sunday so she could fly home. At 1 p.m., she was next in line to get food. Then the lights went out at one of the world's busiest airports.
Five hours later, Southwest Airlines brought out a cart with peanuts and a stampede of people attacked the cart, her mother, Debra Dominguez, said Monday morning. Hornback, who hadn't eaten since 8 a.m., picked up what was left on the floor.
The corridor eventually became smoky, Dominguez said, and people were evacuated to a different part of the concourse. Hornback was eventually able to get outside, Dominguez said, but it was freezing cold and Hornback's phone had died. She sat on the concrete and cried.
" 'This is what the apocalypse would look like,' " Dominguez quoted her daughter as saying about the snack-cart attack.
But Hornback then spotted a nearby building where she charged her phone and was able to get an Uber and hotel. She is scheduled to return on a 10:30 a.m. flight. Dominguez said Southwest had not figured out where Hornback's luggage is.
Hornback's flight was one of several flights either canceled or delayed Sunday and Monday due to the power outage that shut down the Atlanta airport, a major source of passengers to South Florida airports. Power didn't go back on until nearly midnight.
On Monday morning, flights from PBIA to Atlanta at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. were canceled. Flights to Atlanta departing as early as 11:15 were listed as "on time" on the flight information display system. Flights from Atlanta scheduled to arrive at PBIA at 10:28 a.m. and 12:45 a.m. were on time but a flight scheduled to arrive at 11:44 a.m. was canceled.
There were seven cancellations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport: four departures and three arrivals, as well as 14 arrival delays and four departure delays, all from Atlanta, said Greg Meyer, airport spokesman. He added that yesterday there were 17 canceled and 34 delays. He was unable to say when cancelations would end.
Delta Air Lines, whose largest hub is at the Atlanta airport, said at about 7:30 a.m. it already had canceled 300 Monday flights already, on top of nearly 1,000 canceled Sunday.
Delta canceled nine flights in and out of PBIA Sunday and rerouted one, and canceled four PBIA flights Monday morning, airport spokeswoman Lacy Larson said. She said she hadn't yet heard from Southwest. Those two were the only airlines flying between PBIA and Atlanta Sunday and Monday, Larson said.
"Delta is working to reaccommodate customers. Those who need booking assistance are encouraged to go to the Fly Delta app or delta.com to check flight status before leaving for the airport," the airline said in a notice. It also suggested monitoring "@ATLairport" on Twitter.
The airline said people flying to, from or though Atlanta can make a one-time change and that the airline had frozen travel for unaccompanied minors, although those in transit could continue.
Delta tweeted Monday morning that it established a line to assist customers with checked bags that were impacted by the outage and that customers should call (888) 977-1005 to arrange bag delivery.
Southwest Airlines canceled 70 Atlanta departures out of 120 on Sunday and said Monday it was at full schedule. Spokesmen couldn't provide specifics for flights in and out of PBIA Monday morning.
The airline said people who were scheduled to travel through Atlanta on Sunday and Monday and want to change plans can in most cases rebook with no extra fee.
Travelers at Palm Beach international said the cancellations affected their work schedules.
"It doesn't work that they have me travelling all day tomorrow because it means I'm losing two business days," said Krista Lowery, of Jupiter, whose Delta flight had to be rerouted.
Other customers said they were also inconvenienced, but staff was making the experience as pleasant as possible.
"The agent has been wonderful. She made sure we had food vouchers, a place to stay, gave us alternate plans, let us decide which way we wanted to go," said Carol Fosson, who was vacationing at Palm Beach Shores on Singer Island, "It's as pleasurable as this experience could be."
Source: NEW: Darkened Atlanta airport saw peanut stampede, dead phones, tears
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