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Holiday travel 2008: How stranded airline passengers coped

During the holiday rush this year, travelers endured flight delays and cancelations from coast to coast. Problems were blamed on unprecedented storms in places such as Seattle and Portland, Ore., big snowfall in the East and high winds in San Francisco. Stranded travelers spent the night at airports and tried to get to their destinations by Christmas -- some of them making it, some of them not. Here's how people coped with the holiday travel mess. An Alaska Airlines jet gets de-iced on Dec. 21 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where weather shut down or delayed hundreds of flights before Christmas.

During the holiday rush this year, travelers endured flight delays and cancelations from coast to coast. Problems were blamed on unprecedented storms in places such as Seattle and Portland, Ore., big snowfall in the East and high winds in San Francisco. Stranded travelers spent the night at airports and tried to get to their destinations by Christmas -- some of them making it, some of them not. Here’s how people coped with the holiday travel mess.

An Alaska Airlines jet gets de-iced on Dec. 21 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where weather shut down or delayed hundreds of flights before Christmas.  (Peter Haley / Associated Press)

A passenger sleeps at Sea-Tac Airport

A stranded traveler finds some floor space to sleep on at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Dec. 22.  (Stephen Brashear / Getty Images)

Stranded travelers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Thomas McMullen and wife Katie Patterson of Anchorage, Alaska, sit on a pair of cots passing the time at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Dec. 22. McMullen and Patterson, who were trying to get to Minnesota, had been in transit since Dec. 19.  (Stephen Brashear / Getty Images)

Family plays cards at the O'Hare Hilton while stuck in travel

Tom and Kristina Waltz of Vancouver, Wash., play cards with their daughters, Jessica, left, and Samantha, on the lower level of Chicago’s O’Hare Hilton on Christmas Eve. The Waltzes spent two nights at O’Hare due to bad weather; they were en route to Miami to take a family cruise.  (M. Spencer Green / Associated Press)

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Festively capped U.S. Airways ticketing agent Elizabeth Miles helps customers depart at LAX

U.S. Airways ticketing agent Elizabeth Miles shows a bit of holiday cheer while helping customers at LAX in Los Angeles, where many incoming flights were delayed and caused outbound passengers to wait for hours and sometimes days to depart.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

A passenger at an American Airlines ticket counter waits as her wrapped Christmas presents are boxed up to be checked as baggage at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008

A passenger at an American Airlines ticket counter waits as her wrapped Christmas presents are boxed up to be checked as baggage at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Christmas Eve.  (M. Spencer Green / Associated Press)

Travelers are delayed at San Francisco International Airport's Terminal 1 on Monday, Dec. 22, 2008

Delayed travelers queue up at San Francisco International Airport’s Terminal 1 on Dec. 22.  (Mark Costantini / Associated Press)

Adam Seymour, foreground, trying to fly from Seattle to Oakland, rests on the floor with other passengers on Dec. 22 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Adam Seymour, foreground, trying to fly from Seattle to Oakland, catches up on his reading while waiting with other passengers on Dec. 22 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.  (Joshua Trujillo / Associated Press)

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