CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Long waits and delays are hitting travelers flying into and out of Charlotte Douglas Airport. Hundreds of thousands are making their way home from holiday travel, but some fliers have no choice but to be patient.
A common complaint from travelers both arriving and leaving Charlotte Douglas Airport on Sunday, have been delays. It starts with the drive into the airport where people are stuck waiting in long lines of traffic.
Those getting off of planes Sunday night say they’re having to wait close to an hour just pick up checked luggage. This has kept the baggage pick up area consistently crowded.
Upstairs in the Terminal at departures there are different problems. Flights have been delayed and some even cancelled. At least 25 flights throughout the day were pushed back anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour.
Delays have be happening at other airports across the country as well as people coming from Oklahoma, Florida, and Texas say they had to wait to board their plane several hours after the original take-off times.
Kendall Page flew into Charlotte from Oklahoma six hours behind schedule thanks to a delay. She was meant to land in Raleigh, N.C. but says that flight was cancelled. Others hoping to reach Raleigh from Charlotte say they’ve seen flights cancelled four times now.
“Had a six hour delay and now we’re in Charlotte, but thankfully I have family here so everything is going to be good,” Page said.
Airport officials continue to urge fliers to be patient and arrive as early as possible.
American Airlines announced it flew a record 775,000 customers on Sunday. Additional flights were added in Charlotte to manage the extra crowd.