Flight disruptions at Philadelphia International Airport blurring into July 4th travel

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Passengers who are stuck at the Philadelphia International Airport due to bad weather earlier this week are now scrambling to book flights that are mostly full for the 4th of July travel weekend.

"They said the flight got cancelled and the only other flight they can give me is on the 5th of July," said Garon Harrigan of Sint Maarten.

Even though the weather is sunny Wednesday, the number of delays are still roughly the same as the day prior, hovering around 50 most of the morning and early afternoon.

Airport officials said issues at other airports are playing a role at PHL, where flights were grounded for several hours Tuesday during thunderstorms.

"I've been stuck in Philly since last night," said Antonio Brieva of Rhode Island. "They're oversold. They are full and I cannot get any ticket to go to Cleveland."

Brieva said he'll likely have to stay another night.

Action News spoke with others who said flight crews aren't in place, possibly due to schedule changes during bad weather across the country over the last couple of days.

"We got our flight delayed and it was because of staffing issues. We're trying to find another flight but all of them are canceled," said Melanee Lobos of Chicago.

Airport officials said the domino effect of airlines trying to move crews in the right airports usually happens after major disruptions.

"And it is going to be probably a few more days," said PHL spokesperson Heather Redfern.

It's bad timing leading into the busy 4th of July travel weekend.

"For the holiday, our weekend will start on Friday and we're looking through next Thursday with about 572,000 people in and out of PHL," Redfern said.

With the busy summer travel season, airport officials are encouraging and asking everyone to try to be as patient as possible.