Copyright The New York Times
The disruptions at airports across the country on Friday were relatively limited. In the morning, airlines had canceled about 748 flights, or 3 percent of the 25,000 scheduled for the day. Still, many passengers experienced frustrations and frayed nerves, and some faced last-minute scrambling. At LaGuardia Airport in New York, Bryan Dick was trying to get home to Phoenix after his flight was canceled on Thursday night. The 44-year-old electrical engineer was stranded in the city after a three-day conference but managed to book another flight home for about the same price as he paid for his original ticket. “It’s kind of a stick in a gear,” said Mr. Dick, who said he was considering canceling a work trip in December if the shutdown dragged on. He added that he was used to weather disruptions but that he was upset by the circumstances around the current cancellations. “This one’s different, because it’s sort of man-made,” he said. “I think people in Congress need to do their jobs because a lot of people out here are living paycheck to paycheck.” But while some passengers had a heads-up that their travel could be affected, others found out in the middle of their trips. Nicholas Bonaker, 26, was mid-flight on Thursday night traveling back from a wedding from India when he logged onto his plane’s Wi-Fi and saw that his connecting American Airlines flight from New York home to Boston was canceled. The flight he was rebooked on, he said, was out of LaGuardia, not Kennedy Airport, which he flew out of. His new flight also wouldn’t be until Saturday. He rebooked himself on JetBlue, he said, and paid triple the price he had paid for his original connecting flight. But after a long travel day, he said he just wanted to get home. “Honestly, I could have taken the train, probably, but I’ve been flying for like 30-plus hours,” Mr. Bonaker said. “I just bit the bullet and bought the first flight I could.” It wasn’t all bad news. Some travelers said airports were less crowded and lines moved more quickly than usual, perhaps because many people had advance notice of canceled flights. “It took me longer to get through Dunkin’ Donuts than it did TSA,” said Amber Cranfill, a 43-year-old nurse, at LaGuardia. She was traveling home to Houston. At Newark Liberty International Airport, over a dozen members of the Princeton University men’s basketball team, clad in black and orange, didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “Look, whatever happens next, it’s better than a seven-hour bus ride,” one player was overheard saying. Sarah Goodman contributed reporting.
