Sometimes-intense storms ahead of a cold front that pushed through the Houston area overnight knocked out power to Hobby Airport this morning, causing massive lines and delays on one of the year’s biggest travel days.
The storms caused about 45,000 power outages across the area overnight, but the most notable was at Hobby, which went without electrical service from 4 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., Houston Airport System spokeswoman Melissa Sustaita said.
CenterPoint Energy spokewoman Alicia Dixon said about 12,000 customers were without power around 10:15 a.m.
Generators kept most of the airport lit, but Sustaita said ticket counters went dark, forcing airline personnel to manually check in Christmas Eve passengers. That caused massive lines that only seemed to keep growing through the morning, even after power was back on.
Then around 9:45 a.m., power blipped twice more, prompting lights to dim briefly ticketing computers to go down temporarily, Sustaita said. Flights are running consistently late at Hobby as well as Bush Intercontinental Airport, where power is working.
Flights are continuing to run normally and the problems primarily are on the ticketing end. Sustaita said lines are running about two hours long, and officials are advising travelers to get to the airport three hours early.
Shaun Lohmann and girlfriend Geron Morgan, who were trying to fly to Pittsburgh, took the latest flickers in stride.
“We’re not surprised,” Morgan said. “Nothing is surprising anymore. I think the surprise was gone when we saw the line out the door.”
Maria Martinez said the experience today has caused her to swear off flying on Christmas Eve anymore.
“We thought we were doing good by being here two hours early,” said Martinez, of Katy, who was at Hobby to drop her father off for a scheduled flight. “I guess we should have gotten here at midnight.”
Martinez said this will be the last time her family flies on Christmas Eve.
Terry and Debbie Stephens, already in line for two hours for their delayed Southwest Airlines flight to San Diego, tried to keep up their Christmas spirit despite the chaos.
“What are you going to do?” Terry Stephens asked. “You just sort of have to go with the flow.”
His wife Debbie noted that they did get to meet new people and see strangers perform kind acts for each other, such as fetch coffee.
“We’d rather have been on the plane, but you know, this is still nice,” she said.
Katherine Ledenmap tried to keep her two young children, aged 3 1/2 and 9 months, occupied inside the building while her husband held their place in line outside. She said normal parenting rules don’t apply when you’re stuck in an airport.
“It’s a lot of letting them do what they want,” she said.
Making matters worse for travelers, wintry weather through the nation’s midsection, including Dallas-Fort Worth, promised to further complicate travelers heading to colder climes.
