IncredibleDeals

I want to thank that unnamed Delta agent who got me a seat on the 12:15 AM flight out of New Orleans 8/28. I spent 9 hours at the NO airport on Saturday, placed on standby on flight after flight. Many people missed their flights because traffic to the airport was a bottleneck while other flights were cancelled. At last I got a seat on the last flight out and I am safe at home.

I want to report that passengers and agents at gates D4 and D8 were calm and sympathetic . ( We even sang a few bars of "Stormy Weather." ) For a few hours we were God's family, helping one another face the unknown.

As I watch the storm updates, I am in shock and ever more thankful to be home. Let us pray for those who remain to face Katrina.

Lane412000

You should be extremely grateful for being able to get out of MSY. There have been a few news stories about people being stuck at MSY because of the storm. If it continues on its current track, I am not sure when normal operations would begin at MSY. I am about 60 miles south of MSY and getting ready for the long night.

adamak

Glad you make it out. I wonder how long will / did the airport stay open? Those staff need to get out too.
Good luck everyone in MSY.

RobertS975

Cutoff (literally) is a small town on the road to Grand Isle... cannot believe that you were not subject to the evacuation. Are you on one of the canals?
We wish you well.

Traveller

Some people don't wish to leave, some people can't. I fear for the poster who lives in this town. RobertS, can you post a link to a map to this town of Cutoff? Thanks!

indufan

Zoomed out for perspective. Zoom in on your own for detail.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cut+of...1.184601&hl=en

dedehans

I do understand why the airlines (DL included as this is the DL forum...) wish to get their planes out of harms way but why so soon? Why didn't the govt pay the airlines to send some 767s and get people out of MSY last night, today???? Why not a few military transports???? Am I missing something???

Sometimes it is difficult to still be a Republican....

indufan

I suspect that the thought is what not too many people would use them. People don't want to leave until they absolutely have too. And then, they have the love affair with their automobile, which could be one of the few things they might have left after such a storm. Lastly, this particular storm went through rapid strengthening overnight and I think caught a lot off guard in the intensity department.

Traveller

And where could most people go? We here on FT have the knowledge and means to find a hotel anywhere, most people don't. I pray that all those that didn't leave are spared. It is going to be bad.

dd992emo

I am pretty much apolitical (I dislike them all), but what would you have "the government" do? Where would they take these people in "military transports"? Load a bunch of people up and take them somewhere they don't want to go? Might be some liability there.

Take some personal responsibility and leave the government out of it.

dedehans

This is where the airlines, the military with the help of the Government, might have alleviated this just a bit....airlifted some of these people away...put them in Air Force base hangars if needed...rather than sticking them all in the Superdome where the danger of internal chaos could rival the safety of even that structure under the stress of the winds of a Cat 5...

RobertS975

Well, think of the DL employees who service the planes, the ground staff at MSY. They need to take care of a lot of things just to prepare the airport for a storm like this. All the ground vehicles need to be protected.... you can't have baggage carts flying about in a 150mph wind! And then, the airport staff needs to get themselves and their familites out of danger and begin their own preparations. So even though it is theoretically possible to have flown through most of today, it was just not realistic for the reasons stated above.

alanh

And the employees themselves at MSY have to seek shelter and care for their own families as well. It looks like the last flight was out at 4:30pm CDT.

JS

The government paying airlines to cancel other flights just to take people out of MSY has got to be the stupidest idea I have seen all week.

Did you know that New Orleans is not an island? It's on I-10 on the mainland U.S.!

If we had not let the passenger rail system go practically extinct, it would be a snap. One ten car train can hold 1,000 people. Evacuating this way wouldn't cost millions of dollars like it would by air.

NoStressHere

People that LIVE there can drive out, and CAN take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

People that were there on vacation or business, and at the airport trying to return home are a whole different story. They ran out of rental cars and these people were stuck up the river without a paddle. They ran out of options. What would YOU do?

Got to feel sorry for those folks, many of which just returned to local hotels and are hopeing for the best.