ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Lambert International Airport officials reported early Monday morning that all runways were closed and planes were grounded, resulting in dozens of cancellations and delays for travelers.
As of 2 p.m. Monday, the airport said that all the runways were opened and de-iced with the help of the city of St. Louis.
On Monday, traveler Shannen White and 18 others planned to leave the country for a real estate retreat but their plans were diverted by freezing rain.
"We're making the best of it," White said.
The freezing rain made it nearly impossible for travelers to fly out of the airport.
"We got here at 5:30 a.m. this morning for our 8:30 a.m. flight to Punta Cana and that was canceled," White said.
She credited travel insurance with making her flight changes easier.
"It is what it is, I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm ok that we're grounded. We're going to hopefully get a flight out tonight at 8:30 p.m.," White said.
Charla Storey, another traveler who was flying into Lambert had just as many problems.
"We were out of Dallas, and we were supposed to leave at 8 a.m. this morning. We were delayed every hour for an hour and actually told it might be two days and then all of a sudden we were boarding 10 minutes later," Storey said.
The airport's executive director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said Monday that nearly 50% of flights arriving or departing were canceled or delayed.
"A lot of the airlines opted last night not to bring aircraft in because not knowing how much ice might be there, so there were a lot of cancellations last night. Which meant there weren't some airplanes here for this morning," Hamm-Niebruegge said.
Despite the ice, travelers are urging others not to be cold to airline staff.
Jennefer Wilson who is traveling with Storey to a wedding conference urges travelers to be kind to airport staff.
"Positivity can be hard especially when you spend a lot of money to travel but treating people with kindness goes a long way," Wilson said.
Airport officials are still urging travelers to check with their airlines for delays and cancellations plus still plan to get to the airport two hours before if your flight is scheduled to be on time.