Smooth day for many at TPA despite nationwide delays, cancellations

Airlines canceled hundreds of flights Christmas day due to staffing issues because of COVID-19 and bad weather.

888 flights were canceled Saturday, up from 690 on Christmas Eve, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.

At Tampa International Airport, there were about 26 cancellations Saturday, up from 22 the day before.  That’s only about 6% of the total schedule, according to airport managers.

"Everything went smoothly," said Rashad Uqdah, who flew into TPA with his family on Saturday from Massachusetts.  "We didn’t have any cancellations or anything but the in-laws, they flew on a flight earlier and missed a connection and they’re stuck, so they were supposed to beat us here, we won’t see them until midnight, so we won."

Some travelers tell Fox 13, they were nervous getting to Tampa on time from the northeast because of the weather.

"Had two or three delays because of some freezing rain in New Hampshire but we finally made it and we’re in Florida," said Cody Lloyd, visiting Tampa Bay from New Hampshire.  "This morning when we woke up I was very nervous with the freezing rain and then it got delayed a couple times and didn’t know if we were even going to make it."

To avoid surprises at the ticket counter at the gate, some travelers say they got to the airport early and paid close attention to their flight status.

"We got here three hours early just to make sure that we have enough time and to avoid any delays or anything that is going on because of traveling and cancellations, we’re lucky our trip was not canceled," said Estella Torres, traveling to D.C. from TPA.  "I got really concerned because we didn’t want this flight to be canceled or delayed so I was constantly on the app making sure that our flight was still on time."