Airports grounded all flights too

Last weekend, the city that never sleeps was forced to go to bed.
Due to the harshness of Hurricane Irene, nearly all methods of transportation were either severely affected or cancelled entirely – the airports were not spared the inconvenience.
Thousands of travelers were stranded in New York, when John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports were both shutdown at approximately noon on Saturday, August 27. The airports were finally reopened on the morning of Monday, August 29, after nearly two days of being closed.
According to Port Authority spokesperson Ron Marsico, JFK arrivals started at 6 a.m. and departures began at noon. LaGuardia arrivals and departures resumed at 7 a.m. There were no major issues when the airports recommenced operation.
Cots were set up in both airports to comfort travelers whose plans had been ruined by the hurricane. In total, there were roughly 5,000 flight cancellations on Saturday and Sunday due to Irene, stranding 25 people in LaGuardia and 400 people in JFK, according to Marsico.
People grounded in Queens were forced to scramble to reschedule their travel arrangements.
Passengers on Delta Airlines, which operates out of Terminals 2 and 3 in JFK and Terminal A in LaGuardia, originally traveling between August 27 and August 30 must reissue their tickets on or before September 6 with new travel origination dates no later than September 6 in order to avoid fees. Refunds were also available for cancelled or significantly delayed flights.
Travelers on JetBlue, which operates out of Terminal B in LaGuardia and Terminal 5 in JFK, were also offered refunds for cancelled flights and will not be subjected to change fees or fare differences if their new flights were booked prior to their originally intended departure times.
For airport employees, the aftermath of the hurricane was unlike anything they had seen before.
“Saturday and Sunday JFK was a ghost town, but Monday was an extremely busy day,” said Leon Korachais, the assistant general manager of SmarteCarte, who has worked at JFK for 20 years. “A lot of the terminals were filled to the limit with people, and many airlines added extra flights. It was one of the busiest days I’ve ever seen in JFK.”