Severe weather in Northeast continues to disrupt air travel

[Music] but we begin our report with more dangerous air quality millions are under alerts there you see Chicago on the upper left covered in Haze and also right here in New York city where three weeks ago the sky turned orange the air is fine now but expected to reach unhealthy levels in NYC Thursday we'll have much more on that in just a moment meanwhile another day

of severe weather in the Northeast was caused thousands of flight delays and cancellations ahead of the July 4th weekend stranded passengers have been forced to either pay for a hotel or sleep near their gate CBS news's Errol Barnett is at Newark International Airport with more yes sir we have a nose wheel uh unsafe indication we're going to have to go ahead and declare an emergency passengers

seven thousand leaving scores of passengers stranded I went from Houston to Nashville Nashville to Baltimore from Baltimore to Long Island while trying to stay sane I almost lost it actually that last leg exacerbating matters Airline crews out of position and passengers separated from their luggage got three bags that have a lot of valuables in them that have gone somewhere and they have no idea where they

are meanwhile customers are left to figure out how to be made whole again as of right now how much compensation have you been offered none airlines in the U.S are not required to reimburse for hotels or meals due to weather travel expert Peter Greenberg says consider travel insurance so if you want to get the insurance do not opt out of it online go to travel agent

get them to walk you through that policy or you may be buying at least in your case worthless insurance and Errol joins us live right now you know the picture behind you says it all and all of those people that you spoke with man the frustration but with all of these delays and cancellations Arrow already this week how are Airlines and airports across the country preparing

for the upcoming holiday weekend rush hey there jerika it's a great question and I think that because of what you see around me it's less about how airlines are preparing and more about how they will repair their flight schedules with so many Pilots flight crews out of place passengers stranded and these folks next to me they they all have had their flights canceled it's the baggage

claim line they're trying to find out where their baggage is if they can get their hands on it one gentleman just told me he's been on hold with customer service five hours trying to get to the bottom of his Logistics and so the the question now becomes for Airlines right before we experience Thursday which is expected to be the busiest travel day of the holiday weekend

for Flyers it's more about how Airlines can mitigate the loss and the risk with so much chaos specifically here at Newark and uh with United passengers but really all airlines are feeling this punch and crunch right now absolutely and Errol you know the FAA has worn flying into New York metro area this summer could be a little bit more chaotic than usual can you explain why

that is yeah I think the FAA is trying to manage expectations keep in mind that agency has been without a permanent administrator um for a number of years their temporary administrators right now they have had staffing issues at control towers that it has been one component um of it reducing its ability to do its job but they have worked with the airlines to reduce some of

the slots into and out of airports and requesting that airlines fly fewer planes that can carry more passengers um Airlines have tried to prepare for this by hiring up during the pandemic let's not forget many of the airlines received billions of dollars of funding from the government during covid and now it's all about trying to demonstrate to paying customers and you know how frustrating it is

to try and get somewhere and have um the inability of an airline to get you there it's all about delivering on that contract customers have with the airlines but just a very stressful moment for everyone they'll need to bring every of patients you can muster for yourself your friends your family and everyone you've ever known it will be tough out there yeah you know all about

that travel life as well Errol Barnett with that important information too packing your patients from the Newark Liberty International Airport thank you Errol