CNN news 2011-01-01 加文本

cnn news 2011-01-01

I'm Randi Kaye for Anderson Cooper welcome to the 360 podcast.

People still stranded at the airports. The question is who's to blame. Also at 360 exclusive the American aid worker freed from the Haitian prison and more. Let's get started.

We begin tonight "Keeping Them Honest" on who or what's to blame for all the misery so many air travelers are still going through days after the blizzard, the outrage boiling over again today, as five new international flights are trapped on the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, passengers waiting for up to nine hours to get off their planes, then hours more to retrieve their luggage.

A total of 29 international flights have been stranded on the tarmacs of New York airports this week, including a Cathay Pacific flight stuck for a mind-boggling 11 hours.

Of course, the problems didn't stop there. We can't forget the tens of thousands of air travelers around the country whose holiday plans were torpedoed by cancellations and flight delays, with no help in sight. Some won't make it to their destinations until after the new year. And the initial anger and frustration is only growing.

We looked up at the screen and it said canceled within three minutes of walking into the door. So, we had no other plans. We didn't prolong our hotel stay. We didn't do anything.

They're telling us that they can't tell us anything.

The airlines couldn't tell us anything. That sounds highly inefficient.

We're on a standby right now. If that doesn't come through, then we will be in real big trouble.

I'm definitely going to get home sooner or later. If I don't, I have got to stay here.

I don't have any choice.

More than 10,000 flights have been canceled since last weekend's blizzard dumped 20 inches of snow on New York, bringing air traffic to a standstill from coast to coast.

And with airline phone lines, Web sites and reservation agents overloaded, re-booking those flights has been a nightmare. Imagine calling desperate for help, only to get this message.

Thanks for calling Continental Airlines. Due to the weather in the Northeast, we're experiencing unusually high call volume and are unable to take your call. You can check the status of a flight or check in for a flight from your handheld device by going to PDA.Continental.com and enter your flight information.

So, what exactly went wrong? Some experts argue nothing did. They say the aviation system is working just fine, given the circumstances.

The aviation system is not broken at all. We had the severe weather situation in the Northeast United States.