Flight cancelations, delays pile up at Philadelphia International Airport

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- As snow fell in parts of the region on Monday morning, cancelations and delays at Philadelphia International Airport continued to pile up.

"A bunch of flights have been getting canceled," said Will Pine, of Jacksonville, Florida. "It started snowing pretty decent. It's slowed down though."

"I woke up and looked out the window. I didn't see any snow, but I got outside I actually felt the snow," said Donald Tyshaun Harrison, of North Philadelphia.

With snow in the forecast, airport crews were at the ready.

"Ground temperature was a little too warm for us to pre-treat, but crews are standing by just in case that temperature goes down, and we need to get out there with our liquid and our salt," said Heather Redfern, spokesperson for Philadelphia International Airport.

Redfern explained several factors contributed to the cancelations.

"Some of that is the COVID-related staffing issues that everybody has been talking about for the last week, but then there's also weather that's been a problem in other locations, and then what we're getting here," Redfern said.

American Airlines proactively canceled some of their Philadelphia flights, driven by expected winter weather impacts along the east coast and out west, according to spokesperson Andrew Trull.

Trull also said that American Airlines issued a travel alert for customers in the northeast including those traveling through Philadelphia.

Some passengers were relieved to find their flight on time.

"All our schools are closed. Everything in Jersey is closed, and we thought maybe it was going to be worse," said Lois and Rob Caccese, of Hainesport.