Frustrated holiday travelers were left stranded at John F. Kennedy International Airport Friday night after hundreds of flights were canceled as a snowstorm slammed New York City and the tri-state area.
The wintery conditions sent post-Christmas travel plans at the Big Apple transit hub into a frenzy, leaving frazzled vacationers huddled on the floor with their families and luggage as they desperately waited for updates on rebooked flights that will take them home.
“I came to New York to have a ‘Home Alone’ Christmas just by myself,” Danniel Sermone, a 31-year-old who has been stuck at JFK since his Denver flight was axed Friday morning, told The Post.
“I wanted to hang out. I went shopping, and went to Times Square, crossed up there for a while with the big crowd. My next available flight is at 6 a.m. on the 28th. So I have been hanging out at JFK for about eight hours and still got like 30 left.”
More than half of the Empire State was placed under a state of emergency as forecasters warned that parts of the region would be walloped by nearly a foot of snow through Saturday afternoon.
The fast-moving storm has caused 158 flight cancellations and 204 delays out of JFK — the highest totals of any US airport on Friday, according to FlightAware.
“We don’t know when we can go back to Brazil,” said Mara Pimenta, who traveled to New York from Sao Paulo with her husband and two young children for a joyful Christmas vacation.
“I have been on hold for an hour waiting with some guy. He said maybe the 29th we have a flight. He told me to just wait. I have nothing. No information, nothing. I just have a lot of luggage and two children.”
The irritated mom — who has been stuck at JFK for more than four hours — said her family arrived at the airport only to discover her Latam Airlines flight had been canceled, with no notice from the airline and a deserted check-in counter.
To make matters worse, the hotel where her family was staying is now fully booked, she said.
“How can you have an airline with no customer care during a weather emergency?” Chaithanya Sing pressed while sitting on the airport floor holding her 9-month-old baby in her lap.
The 32-year-old said her Air France flight to India was canceled and shifted to Etihad Airlines, only to find her baby’s ticket hadn’t been transferred — and she hasn’t been able to reach anyone from either airline.
“I went to Terminal One to speak to someone at Air France, and there was no one, it’s like a ghost counter,” Sing said. Her husband added that the situation is “very depressing because my daughter was going to meet her grandparents for the first time.”
Newark International Airport also reported a staggering 107 cancellations, with LaGuardia International Airport following closely behind with 90 scrapped flights, data showed. Both travel hubs reported a combined 335 delayed flights.
The storm is expected to intensify throughout the night, with more than two inches falling per hour at times, according to the New York National Weather Service — which issued a weather storm warning for the city from 4 p.m. Friday through 1 p.m. Saturday.
“New Yorkers should all prepare — avoid driving if possible and give yourself extra travel time with public transit if you do need to travel,” Mayor Eric Adams said.
“Stay alert to changing conditions, and sign up for Notify NYC for real-time information updates.”
The post Holiday travelers stranded at JFK Airport as winter storm triggers hundreds of flight cancellations appeared first on New York Post.
