JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The weather outside is frightful in a large portion of the U.S., causing a 'snowball' effect on flights getting in to and out of JAX.
Twenty flight cancellations Saturday, 20 more on Christmas and at least 20 more Monday.
Leaving folks stranded, and a lot of flights to make up for the airlines.
Usually folks can get a make up flight the next day, but that's not the case for some people at JAX right now.
"Excellent. Can't complain," said Allen Owens, who's flight to Baltimore was canceled. "Not long enough, although we didn't expect to be stuck here."
Getting to Jacksonville for Christmas was a cinch for Allen Owens and his family.
Getting back, not so much, as he found out their flight was canceled after they already made it through security.
"They didn't have to wait until we got here, and then to kick us back three days," said Owens. "Look, We're alive, we're well, we're healthy. It is what it is."
Even as the winter storm clears a bit up north, the head aches at the airport continue to snowball.
First Coast News interviewed a UNF student Saturday trying to get to Nashville Christmas Eve to see his mom, but his flight was canceled.
He was put on a Christmas evening flight for the next day, but half the flights to Nashville from JAX were canceled then, and every flight to the Music City was either delayed or canceled Monday.
However, some folks are still managing to get where they were going.
"I thought they might sequentially knock me off my flight to New York, but thank God things worked out well," said Howard Tucker before he boarded.
Tucker is hoping by Wednesday, he'll be skiing with his daughter in Austria.
But, in case something does happen to his flight, he has a reason not to panic.
"It's my first year of retirement, so I don't need to worry about work," said Tucker. "Don't need to take a work computer. Don't have to worry about phone calls. I'll get there when I get there."
As for Owens, he says the whole ordeal won't stop him from traveling for the holidays.
"I'm a glutton for punishment," said Owens.
The vast majority of the delays and cancelations out of Jacksonville are with Southwest - the airline canceled three quarters of its Jacksonville flights Monday.
In a statement, Southwest said that as the weather clears, they're starting to catch back up a bit and are working to get customers on flights, but they are offering full refunds or vouchers for anyone who had a canceled flight.
That may be the route the Owens go, because they were frantically looking at other airlines that could get them home in less than three days.
Southwest's full statement:
We are still experiencing disruptions across our network as a result of Winter Storm lingering effects on the totality of our operation. With the weather now considerably more favorable, we continue work to stabilize and improve our operation.We are re-accommodating as many Customers as possible, based on available space, whose itineraries have been disrupted. Those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire. Information for Customers with lost baggage is here: https://www.southwest.com/help/baggage/lost-damaged-baggage ... Customers can also speak with a representative at the baggage service office in an airport where we operate or contact Southwest customer service, though we are experiencing abnormally high call volumes.The operational emergency you’re referencing are routine emergency sick procedures (enacted at our DEN operation) …when that occurs, it puts parameters in place—like requiring a doctor’s note when an Employee returns to work if they call in sick—so that we can ensure Reliability for our Customers by having the necessary amount of available, working staff.