A deadly plane crash in San Francisco created havoc for July 4 holiday weekend travelers in Los Angeles who were left stranded or trying to figure out alternate plans for transportation, and more delays are possible early this week.
At least 34 of the 103 flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco were canceled on Sunday. Early Monday, no delays or cancelations related to the crash were reported at LAX.
Departing flights were delayed by an average of two hours and 30 minutes later Monday morning because of the SFO aircraft incident.
The delay follows a weekend crush that came during the peak summer travel time combined with the end of the July 4 holiday. About 175,000 passengers were expected through LAX on Sunday, said Nancy Castles, an airport spokeswoman.
Some passengers scrambled to find other means of transportation.
“Basically it was a mess,” said 14-year-old Brighton Mill, who had to shuttle his grandmother from San Francisco to San Jose to catch a flight on Saturday night.
Noelle Mays had to take a more circuitous route through the Bay Area.
“We're going to San Jose (Monday) then Amtrak from San Jose to Sacramento,” she said.
Passengers who arrived at LAX aboard a United Airlines flight from San Francisco late Sunday described the Bay area airport as "chaotic." Many returned with images taken from the termianl of the wreckage of the Boeing 777 jetliner that crashed and burned Saturday while landing on a flight from South Korea, killing two people and injuring dozens, some critically.
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It could take up to two days for passengers to get rescheduled due to the Asiana Airlines jet crash, officials said. Airlines could try to book passengers from cancelled flights on flights to airports near San Francisco, such as Oakland or San Jose, and bus them to San Francisco, Castles said.
The airlines could put passengers on buses from LAX to San Francisco, put them up in hotels for a day or two and, if there are enough passengers and planes, airlines could offer special flights to make up for canceled flights, she said.
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