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JFK Airport Chaos: Cancellations, Punches And A Broken Water Main

Video showed water streaming through the ceiling of a baggage holding area and creating a shallow pond.

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QUEENS, NY — After extreme cold from the now-infamous "bomb cyclone" forced thousands of flight cancelations in New York City, John F. Kennedy International Airport faced another unexpected hurdle Sunday – a broken water main.

Unhappy travelers posted on Twitter that their luggage disappeared at the airport over the past few days and photos showed hundreds of bags sitting in the airport waiting to be reunited with their owners. On Sunday, the airport tweeted that a water main broke in Terminal 4 and told travelers — many already several hours delayed — that the break would lead to even more problems.

It also appeared the lights went out in at least one area of JFK, too. Video which you can watch at the bottom of this page showed part of the airport in darkness.

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The leak forced part of the airport to be evacuated on Sunday afternoon, CNN reported. Video showed water streaming through the ceiling of a baggage holding area in Terminal 4 and creating a shallow pond. One official told the news outlet he feared the water, coupled with the frigid temperatures, could result in something resembling an ice rink.

The FAA expected Terminal 4 arrivals would be suspended up to six hours, WABC-TV reported, and flights were diverted to other terminals.

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A Twitter used, Dr. Andy Evens, tweeted he was told customs was closed at JFK and that his flight from Zurich on Swiss International Air Lines was diverted to Boston. As of 4 p.m. Sunday JFK was experiencing departure delays of about half an hour and inbound flight delays of about 2 1/2 hours, according to the flight tracking website Flight Aware.

Twitter user @StephanieAbrams said in a video Sunday that passengers on her plane were among the last people allowed to go through customs. She said the lights started to flicker and customs closed down almost immediately after they got through.

"They shut it right after us," she said.

They were told they would not be getting their luggage.

The airport isn't allowing anyone off their planes or through customs, she said.

"It's been a tough go here at JFK lately," she said.

Indeed, it has been a tough go of it lately. Impossible conditions created a "cascading series of issues" for both airlines and terminal operators over the past few days, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement on Sunday before the water main break. Nearly 100 flights were canceled on Saturday due to issues with freezing equipment breakdowns, difficulties in baggage handling, staff shortages and inordinately heavy passenger loads.

Many students and faculty members from the UK's De Montfort University, on a trip to New York which included visits with United Nations officials, found their flights diverted to Atlanta and Detroit, they said Sunday night.

"These challenges left passengers on planes for extensive periods, as the airlines and terminal operators experienced delays in getting aircraft in and out of gates," the agency said.

The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, diverted 17 flights, the statement said. Terminal 1 was closed to incoming flights at 7 p.m. Saturday and many planes saw long delays in reaching gates, particularly international flights at Terminals 1 and 4. Port Authority bussed many passengers from 25 planes at the terminals.

Many frustrated travelers took took to social media to air their grievances, including one woman who tweeted on Sunday that her bags were still missing on Sunday after she arrived at JFK on Friday evening.

Passenger Jeremy Silver told the the New York Post that "some punches were thrown" after a canceled flight on terminal four on Saturday night. Port Authority police officers were sent to break up a disturbance, Virgin Atlantic said in a tweet.

“We are sharing a gate with another airline, and they have just cancelled their flight, causing the disturbance and the police being called."

Silver told the news outlet passengers nearly rioted at gate B23 upon learning of their canceled XL Airways flight.

“The crowd went nuts booing and shouting,” he said.

Another Twitter snapped a photo of a baggage claim area at the airport and posted itv on Twitter, saying there were also two others just like it.

But other travelers, rather than throw punches or berate their airline on the internet, instead decided to take life's lemons, channel their inner Beyonce and make lemonade. Michelle Ross was one of them. The talented violinist in a comment on Instagram took credit for a beautiful performance put on for her fellow weary travelers.

Ross thanked the "incredibly warm passengers and flight crew" as they sat through a 12-hour delay from JFK to Seattle.

"It was a lovely relief to practice in the airport while we waited - and I was very touched by everyone's enthusiasm for the music," she said.

She had "always meant to play at an airport," she said. They all eventually made it to their destination "safe and sound."

Port Authority on Sunday said JFK's runways and taxiways were fully operational and that airlines were rebooking passengers on canceled flights and working to return their luggage. But subfreezing temperatures — the National Weather Service said temperatures remained in the mid-teens on Sunday – were still causing equipment to fail and slowing operations, the agency said, so some customers might still experience residual delays, particularly international fliers.

Passengers should give themselves extra time and call their carriers for specific flight information.

Photo credit: Rebecca Butala How/Getty Images

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