Travel hits a snag on Christmas Eve

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — There were a lot of weary travelers that made it to their final destination at the Wilmington International Airport.

Shirley Nero said she is looking forward to having her daughter Deborah Reniff around for the holidays.

“It’s officially Christmas now,” said Nero. “I still get a tiny bit home sick and we always have a good time together.”

Reniff said getting to her mother from Upstate New York wasn’t easy.

“I got bumped in Philadelphia a couple times, and had to wait on standby, and once I got on standby I had to do a little finagling.”

Many travelers had plans that were up in the air as weather and mechanical issues plagued the Christmas Eve travel day.

Maureen Doerner traveled from Cleveland, Ohio to visit her sister Barbara Landers. Doerner said she was held up in Atlanta when lightening hit a transformer.

“Most people were okay, some were grumbling, like you can’t do anything about the weather, you know not much of a holiday spirit in some people but most people were fine,” said Doerner.

It was long day of travel for Doerner and a lot of waiting for her sister Barbara.

“I’ve been waiting for weeks, so I am really happy that she pushed through and made it,” said Landers.

Kelli Murray, was visiting her in-laws from Boston. She said she just wanted to make it and she was prepared to not make it on time.

“Most of our family lives down South so all holidays we are traveling, catching layovers, I think that everybody knows we’re traveling, so there’s no expectation that we’ll always be right on time, so we don’t really feel the pressure,” said Murray.

Everyone we spoke to Thursday night said despite being delayed for in some cases hours, it was worth to make it home to be with their loved ones.