Winging It

PHL gest a bad rap whenever the weather disrupts normal operations, and many of you believe it deserves it. No doubt, the grounding of all flights during last Friday's sleet caused as much pain and suffering to travelers as any storm has recently. The local media was out in force to report on how passengers were affected. Sleeping in an airport is no fun -- there's no way to minimize how grim that can be.

But most of what happened to travelers was beyond the airport's control. The airlines were required by the FAA to stop flying while ice was falling -- they had no choice about cancellatioins.The response of US Airways was another matter that has been written and talked about and some of you have vented about it (Please, keep it up.) .The airline has a new computer system that employees say doesn't work properly and that only made the dismal experience of waiting to rebook even worse. But the airport staff didn't take the weekend off. Many employees made a serious effort to do what they could to help. If you want to know more about how the airport's managers view the way they responded, read a news release the airport issued this afternoon here