PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The impact from this week's travel meltdown extends well beyond the airport. Passengers are taking matters into their own hands and getting where they need to be, any way they can.
“Driving didn’t work out; flying didn’t work out," an Amtrak passenger told WPTV, before boarding her 19-hour train ride Wednesday. “It’s a long train ride.”
“We’ve still been looking for flights up until this morning," another passenger said. "We were going to gamble, but when we saw what was happening, we were like let’s just hop on the train.”
On Wednesday afternoon, the next available seat on an Amtrak train heading to the New York area was Jan. 3.
As passengers and airlines grapple with nationwide airline cancelations, travelers in South Florida are hopping between airports, clinging to the hope they might still score a seat on a plane.
“I just spent $208 on an Uber so I could get to the airport and talk to someone behind the counter and try to get a ticket," a Southwest passenger told WPTV.
Rick Versace owns A1A Airport and Limousine Service. He said they typically run 200 routes a day, but in the past week they’ve more than doubled that.
“In 35 years, this is the most cancellations I’ve ever experienced,” he said. “We have a lot of people that maybe flew out of Fort Lauderdale, but they couldn't get a flight back into Fort Lauderdale. So, they've come into West Palm Beach. We'll pick them up at West Palm Beach and have to drive them to Fort Lauderdale, because that's where their car is parked. Whatever it takes to get them home."
Some airlines are offering reimbursements for extra expenses due to cancelations, including meals, hotels and other transportation.