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New York's JFK Airport turns into a mob scene as disasters pile on

This is an unprecedented cascade of headaches for New York's largest airport.

Adam Rosenberg

on January 7, 2018

New York's JFK Airport turns into a mob scene as disasters pile on

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 04: A general view of the departures drop-off area in Terminal five at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 4, 2018 in the Queens borough of New York City. A winter storm is traveling up the east coast of the United States dumping snow and creating blizzard like conditions in many areas. . (Photo by Rebecca Butala How/Getty Images) Credit: Rebecca Butala How/Getty Images

It's rare for a single airport to make headlines, but that's what happens when a cascading series of events shuts down one of the world's biggest transit hubs.

John F. Kennedy International Airport is in a state of disarray on Sunday as nasty weather, blistering cold, and human error conspired to create a logjam that's left travelers stranded and planes grounded or redirected. Not a great mixture for people moving into or out of New York this weekend.

Troubles started last week, when the terrifyingly named "bomb cyclone" dumped snow and windy weather across the eastern United States on Wednesday and Thursday. The inclement weather was followed immediately by a lingering cold snap that's slowed down cleanup and recovery efforts.

Those two events alone caused heavy delays and cancelled or redirected flights that piled on top of each other as the week wore on. The issues were then further exacerbated over the weekend by instances of human error, unexpected disasters, and downright bad behavior.

Taken together, this confluence of events led to a mob scene at JFK on Saturday and Sunday as distraught, angry, and, in some cases, stranded travelers coped with disrupted travel plans and the inevitable frustrating hold-ups that come about when thousands of people are stuck in the same physical space, with the same fundamental problems to solve.

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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey attempted to sum up the situation and what led to it in a lengthy Twitter thread (for a state agency, at least) posted on Saturday.

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That final tweet in the thread is notable. While some of the traffic jam was unavoidable given the nature of the storm and its after-effects, observers have noted that there was plenty of advance warning here. The storm was a known threat before it had even fully formed, and the intense period of cold that followed was expected.

All of which is to say: preparations at JFK could have been more thorough, airlines could have done a better job of anticipating flight disruptions, and the lines of communication to passengers all throughout could have been clearer.

Port Authority followed up those tweets on Sunday with a longer statement, confirming that the airport's runways and taxiways are "fully operational" while airlines "remain in recovery mode" as they deal with rebookings and lost luggage.

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Predictably, much of this has been documented on social media. Take a look, and spend some time scrolling through FlightRadar24's Twitter feed to see the long lineup of JFK-related delays and redirects.

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UPDATED Jan. 7, 2018, 4:22 p.m. ET with Port Authority's Sunday statement.

Adam Rosenberg

Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.