New Yorkers clog roads, rails, airports on Thanksgiving exodus

New Yorkers Wednesday jammed the roads, filled rail compartments and airline cabins on what experts described as the biggest holiday exodus since the Sept.11 attacks in 2001.

But bad weather is causing delays at New York airports and elsewhere in the nation on the busiest travel day of the year. Thehigh volume of flights is causing average delays of about 90 minutes at La Guardia, and some arriving flights at Newark could beup to 90 minutes late, though no delays have been reported JFK International Airport so far.

Snow in the Midwest and thunderstorms across the South will wreak even more havoc on flight schedules as the day goes on, especially at the busy hubs of Chicago and Atlanta, aviation sources said.

They had also reminded passengers that new screening measures were put in place after bombs were smuggled onto two airliners in Russia in September. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says there will be more pat-down searches, even of people whodo not set off metal detectors.

The TSA recommends passengers remove any bulky clothing and putall metal objects in their carry-on luggage before they get to thefront of the security line. Gifts should remain unwrapped in case they need to be inspected.

About 4.6 million Americans are expected to travel by plane, while the roads will be packed with about 30 million people takinglong distance trips.

That means another gridlock alert day in the city. The Department of Transportation recommends using mass transit for those headed into the city.

The New York Police Department has also beefed up security for the holiday as it has done in the past years.

Source: Xinhua