JACKSONVILLE, Fla — People are forced to change plans as flights get cancelled across the country. The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has hit flight crews hard.
United Airlines confirming it has had to cancel more than 100 flights on Christmas Eve alone because of crews out sick.
Other airlines like JetBlue and Delta are also cancelling flights. Many others are being delayed by hours.
While Christmas Eve is not supposed to be the busiest travel day, people are calling it the holiday travel nightmare before Christmas.
Santa is here at Jacksonville International Airport, but your family might not be yet. All morning, a handful of flights to Jacksonville showed yellow for delayed and red for cancelled.
Even the Grinch is staying positive.
“A lot of patience," said Donna Pendley, who is dressed up as the Grinch to surprise her great grandson in Pittsburgh. "I hope everybody is friendly today and If you bump into someone make sure to say excuse me!"
Lines are moving, sometimes slowly.
‘I thought it would be a total madhouse," said Alison White. "But this is not too bad. We’ve been standing here for maybe 15 minutes.”
White is checking in for her trip to Honduras. It's one of the locations where you may need health documentation to get on the flight.
Same goes for Matthew Wells and family on their way to Hawaii.
“I honestly thought it would be worse," Wells laughed.
Smooth travel is a gift this holiday. The morning of Christmas Eve seemed harder to get to Jacksonville than to get out, but the flight schedule is constantly changing.
Stay up to date at FlyJacksonville.com.