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10/31/2012 12:33 PM

Air travel resuming after Sandy

By: Megan Cruz

Many people are finally getting on planes after Sandy caused the cancellation of thousands of flights across the country. Our Megan Cruz has more from Albany International Airport.

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COLONIE, N.Y. -- "We always have our little Albany International Airport Hotel on the third floor," said airport spokesperson Doug Myers. "We set out cots and sometimes we put chocolates on the pillows."

But on Wednesday, those cots stayed folded up because it's go time.

"To Tampa, then to Fort Lauderdale," said Sophia Dirubbio. "A little bit of a delay, but we'll get there God-willing!"

Stranded travelers like Sophia Dirubbio and her daughter are finally boarding planes at Albany International. That's after Sandy sidelined their plans by closing airports along the East Coast.

As of Wednesday, major hubs like JFK, Newark, and Baltimore are back open, albeit with limited service.

"Once you take a major East Coast hub like JFK, LaGuardia, or Newark, it has a ripple effect throughout the nation," said Myers. "It takes them a while to get back in position."

He means the planes. In anticipation of a storm, they're moved - like with Sandy, planes here were moved west.

Dirubbio's itinerary's been changed three times because of this. They were originally flying out of JFK to Cancun on Monday but that was cancelled. So they rescheduled for Wednesday but then that was cancelled, too! So, they just settled for anywhere sunny.

"We came up here to Albany and we were going to get Flight 186 going to Fort Lauderdale stopping at Baltimore, and that was cancelled," said Dirubbio. "It's an ordeal."

An ordeal she hopes is over, now that they've checked in for their flight to Tampa.

"Friday's my daughter's birthday, and this is the purpose of the trip," she said.

Myers says now that hubs are reopening, delays and cancellations should become less frequent for everyone. At Albany International, they hope to be operating by 100 percent again by Thursday.