Holiday travel troubles aren’t just because of the weather. NBC 5’s Tahera Rahman reports many flights on Christmas Eve were delayed over an earlier technical issue.
A busy Mother Nature competing with Santa Claus on Christmas Eve caused flight delays at DFW International Airport on Tuesday.
According to the FAA's airport status website, weather and thunderstorms pushed back some arrivals for hours.
“We had to circle in the air for I think it was like 40 minutes," said Sean Short, coming in from Salt Lake City. "The threat was that we were going to have to land in Oklahoma City or Amarillo, so thankfully we made it.”
“We were more worried about how busy it would be at the airport, not the weather, and so the weather was another curveball we weren’t quite expecting," he added.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
The flight-tracker screens showed several arrival flights delayed for over five hours.
“My first time flying, so let’s hope the storm doesn’t do anything weird," said Justin McCarty, flying with his family to El Paso to visit his brother.
“I’ve heard there were some delays because of the rain, so hopefully we get in there and it’s not too bad," said mother, Mistie Williamson.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The family got to the airport three hours early for their flight in anticipation of holiday delays.
“It’s a really busy day to travel, so we got here like three hours early, make sure we get through TSA and I normally travel by myself, so I figured we’d get here early to get everybody through," said Chris Williamson.
It was the same idea for the Shadowens family, who also got to the airport three hours early.
"Little kids, give ourselves plenty of time. Grab lunch and fill up water bottles and hopefully let them run around before we get on the plane," said Chris Shadowens.
According to the FAA's page, weather delays for arriving flights could also affect departure schedules.
Amy Shadowens said the weather did cross her mind.
“It did a little bit but I figure three hours, storm will hopefully pass. If not, I guess we’re going to hang out for a little bit," she said.
Brian Smith said he didn't know it would be raining when he saw his daughter off at the airport.
“That’s my 22-year-old daughter, she’s going to go live with her husband in the Air Force now," he said. “I held it in. I’ll probably be crying later."
He said Mother Nature's work means instead of keeping an eye on the Santa Tracker, he'll be tracking his daughter on their first Christmas apart.
“She’s going to be calling me and everything, letting me know everything’s OK," Smith said.
The weather delays came after an American Airlines ground stop earlier on Tuesday morning.
The company said the stop was caused by a technical issue, and resumed operations about an hour later.
Norma Moreno got caught in both that delay and weather delays.
“When we were checking in we had an alert that the weather was going to be bad, so we can change our flight. So, we ended up paying to get an earlier flight and then as soon as we were at the airport, it was right before it was time to board the plane, then it got grounded," Moreno explained.
She said when she was almost home for Christmas, nearing DFW, the pilot announced a weather delay.
“He was just circling around and then finally we were able to get here safely," she said.
