Rebooking mess -- not just for US.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/business/airlines-resume-service-but-snarls-remain.html?_r=1&hp
A Logistical Snarl for Airlines in Trying to Rebook Fliers
By JOE SHARKEY
HURRICANE IRENE had long since passed, but a lot of people who were hoping to get on airplanes as airports in the Northeast reopened Monday were not going anywhere anytime soon.
The airlines canceled more than 10,000 flights over the weekend at the height of the storm and canceled at least 2,000 more on Monday as they struggled to return to normal. Their immediate concern was getting their aircraft and flight crews back into position. But the larger issue was the unforgiving arithmetic of modern air travel most airplanes are flying nearly full, with little room to accommodate hundreds of thousands of turned away passengers, especially at a peak travel period like the week leading into Labor Day weekend.
The result was scenes like the one on Monday at Terminal 4 at Kennedy International Airport in New York, where suitcases were piled like barricades against walls, lines stretched out the doors and every available seat was claimed....