Several early flights canceled at KCI day after low visibility, snow closed airfield

Airlines canceled several early morning flights out of Kansas City International Airport Monday, a day after low visibility and record snow led to a 4-hour closure of the airfield and more than 100 canceled flights.

Some flights were canceled Monday morning when airlines did not have planes in Kansas City in time for the departures, according to KCI officials.

A total of 28 flights had been canceled by 7 a.m., according to FlightAware.com.

The good news for travelers is that flights later in the morning remained on time, according to the airport.

Passengers expecting to fly were encouraged to check www.flykci.com for the status of their flight.

The canceled flights came the morning after KCI was forced to close its airfield because blowing snow from a major winter storm reduced visibility at the airport to less than a 1/4 mile.

Deb Morrison of Fort Collins, Colo., said her family had planned to fly out Sunday, but after arriving at the airport they found out that their flight had been canceled.

“We weren’t sure exactly what to do,” Morrison said. “We considered taking our rental car and driving back to Denver. But we then decided no — the weather was so bad.”

They decided to wait and try their luck Monday. They stayed at a nearby hotel that they said was packed with other stranded travelers, including some who had flights Tuesday.

“We had still planned to drive the rental car today, but there happened to be a flight open,” she said. “So here we are, hoping that we can get on.”

This story was originally published November 26, 2018 at 6:55 AM.