The storm that hit the Mid-Atlantic states on Wednesday filled the departures board at Bradley International Airport with red cancelled notices, even though the snow stayed south of the runways.
With airlines unable to get crews or equipment into Connecticut, there was no way out for travelers eager to get their Presidents' Day weekend going, until Thursday.
But heading toward security to try his luck with Delta as a standby passenger, David Gelb of West Hartford was amazed at how difficult it was to leave on Thursday for Florida.
"It's bad planning," he said. "I mean, if I were in the airline industry and I had a difficult time making a dollar, I would put on extra planes today. I would have gone through every possible gyration to see to it that I could service the people I need to service so I can make a living."
Meanwhile, Natasha Carra of Massachusetts complained about how United handled her trip to San Francisco. She had hoped to leave on Tuesday, the day before the storm.
"They kept rebooking me," she said. "when they knew the storm was coming, and they kept rebooking me to Washington, D.C."
She got herself and her dog a flight through Chicago to San Francisco, making for a longer goodbye with her mother and grandmother than she would have liked.
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"It's really inconvenient because I have what might be a job interview and I'd like to get to California," she said.
The silver lining is that the storm didn't hit on the holiday weekend itself, airport spokesman John Wallace said. "Once the airlines get through that, things will get back to normal, whatever that is."
