by Chris Cannon
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A tornado and violent storms ripped through the Dallas area Tuesday afternoon. The chaos there created cancellations at airports across the country.
American Airlines is headquartered in Dallas and had to cancel hundreds of flights after hail fell at the airport.
"After the hail moved through we had to do inspections on approximately 100 aircraft, and those aircraft are with American and American Eagle," said American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Huguely.
More than 700 flights in and out of Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport were canceled Tuesday.
That created a ripple effect throughout the American Airlines system. The company canceled its four remaining flights out of Nashville Tuesday, and the first flight out on Wednesday morning.
Belmont University sophomore Lydia Taylor was on the way Nashville International Airport when she received a call from her father.
"And he told me my flight was canceled because they had bad weather going to Dallas," Taylor explained.
She spent the next hour in a long line at the American Airlines ticket counter trying to find out what would become of her trip home for Easter.
Taylor was not alone. Hundreds of passengers had to make new arrangements with the airline.
"I think they had two flights going out at 3:30 and then a 4:40 going out, so there were a lot of people here and they were just booking them on tomorrow's flight," said passenger Alan Greenwald.
He was in Nashville on business. It was a trip that was supposed to continue Tuesday night in Dallas. The cancellation led to a lot of work rearranging reservations.
"Hard thing is you're usually booking stuff out in advance, all the hotels and the cars and you have to start making the changes on that," Greenwald explained.
He travels quite a bit with American Airlines and knows what happens when there is bad weather in Dallas.
"Anytime Dallas gets messed up it screws up their whole country. Things going from Los Angeles, New York, where I am from. It's just all gets messed up," according to Greenwald.
The airline urged passengers rebooked for Wednesday morning to check their reservations before heading to the airport just in case any problems arose overnight that might cancel more flights Wednesday.
Email: ccannon@newschannel5.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/NC5ChrisCannon
Twitter: Twitter.com/NC5_ChrisCannon
