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Airlines cancel Tampa flights By JEAN HELLER © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 AMPA -- Many people who wanted to get out of the region as Hurricane Georges approached Friday had to find ways to do it that didn't involve flying. Many airlines decided early to cancel some or all of their operations at Tampa International Airport on Friday and into the weekend. "The airport was very, very busy, but it was with people trying to rebook their flights," said spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan. Continental and its commuter companion, Gulfstream, which fly 53 daily operations, shut down a little after 6 p.m. Delta Air Lines, which has 37 daily operations, closed at 5 p.m. United Airlines stopped flying out of TIA at 1 p.m., canceling 12 flights. American closed at 4 p.m., canceling 24 flights. US Airways, the largest airport user with 90 daily operations, planned to stop operations shortly after a 9:20 p.m. flight Friday and resume at 6:45 a.m. Saturday, weather permitting. Other cancellations included Air Aruba, Cayman Airways, AirTran, America West and British Airways. Northwest stopped operating at 7 p.m. Southwest was still operating as of 9 p.m. There also were some cancellations among airlines flying out of St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport. "A lot of airlines have flights about 6 a.m. and will decide in the morning what they're going to do," said Geoghagan of the Tampa airport. "It is critical for passengers to call the airlines ahead of time to see what their situations are." Apparently, a lot of people did that Friday. "I think a lot of them were smart enough to call ahead of time," said Marc Stank, customer service supervisor for Southwest. "Of course, a lot of them were disappointed," said Robert Dorsey, supervisor of airport services for Delta. "But mostly people have been very understanding. They know the weather is out of our control." Perhaps the passengers hardest hit by the weather were those from Carnival Cruise Lines' ship, MS Tropicale. It left from Tampa for a cruise of the western Caribbean Sept. 21, but put in today at Miami to avoid the hurricane. Passengers who had flights out of Tampa were bused north to TIA -- only to learn there were no flights. Business | Citrus | Commentary | Entertainment Hernando | Floridian | Obituaries | Pasco | Sports State | Tampa Bay | World & Nation © Copyright 1998 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.