Memorial Day weekend travel brings high numbers to Tucson International Airport

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Memorial Day travel is coming with delays and diversions for a lot of people flying in and out of southern Arizona.

The weather may be fine in Tucson, if not a little warm, but storms are causing issues in connecting cities.

“Coming out of Chicago we were delayed by 20 minutes because there was some pretty bad weather in the Atlanta area,” Tucson resident Robert Nemitz said. “There’s been a lot of weather coming out throughout the country. Chicago had tornadoes last night.”

Thousands of delays have left many stranded at busy airports in Atlanta and Chicago. You can check FlightAware MiseryMap for the amount of delays by going to https://www.flightaware.com/miserymap/

“Fortunately, the flight from Atlanta to Tucson was not delayed, because we had just missed the weather coming out of there but everybody’s delayed and just tons and tons and tons of people standing around,” Nemitz said.

Tucson International Airport shares they’ve been happy with the weekend telling 13 News today “Holiday weekend travel certainly does bring higher volumes to the airport. [They] take great pride in [their] incredible ease of use at TUS, even during peak travel periods. For the most up-to-date travel information, you can check our website flytucson.com or check with your airline directly.”

According to airhelp.com, if you miss a flight connection due to the weather, your airline should book you on the next possible flight, but you most likely will not get compensation.

“I usually pack an extra set of clothes in a carry that way if anything happens to the checked luggage you at least have something on your person to change into,” traveler Loy McGuire said. “You’re not stuck in a strange place with nothing to change into or no toiletries or anything.”

TIA also suggests arriving at the airport a little bit earlier than you normally would just in case there’s a long line at security to make sure you can return back to the place you call home.

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