Travelers turn to buses and trains as flight delays, cancellations grow
With flight delays and cancellations piling up nationwide, some travelers are switching up their plans mid-journey, trading the runway for the railway or the road.
At Atlanta's Greyhound station, Sandro Martinez was one of many passengers finding another way home.
"Currently I'm headed to Greenville, South Carolina," Martinez said.
The New Jersey traveler's trip didn't start on a bus.
"I came from Newark to Atlanta by flight," he said.
But with his connecting flight uncertain, Martinez decided to play it safe and finish his trip by bus instead.
"I did not want to take the risk," he said. "The Greyhound was going to be a lot quicker, and I actually know it's going to be running more efficiently. It's not run through the government as well, because most of the airports are."
With a layover in Atlanta and hours to wait before his next flight, Martinez figured the two-hour bus ride to Greenville was the smarter move.
Across town, at Atlanta's Amtrak station, Michael Johnson made a similar choice.
"Did that factor into it? I would say it does," Johnson said, referring to the recent spike in flight cancellations.
But not everyone is ready to ditch the airport.
Michael Stringer, who's flying to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving, says he's sticking with air travel.
"It's going to take 12 or 13 hours on a bus to get somewhere," he said. "A train's probably going to take you four days versus an hour. You wouldn't take a bus or a train, no."
Both Greyhound and Amtrak say they're expecting demand to rise as the holidays approach.
In a statement sent to CBS News Atlanta, Greyhound said it's tracking demand in real time and adding buses where needed to help travelers reach their destinations "comfortably, affordably, and on time."
Amtrak also says it's fully operational and ready to welcome more passengers, noting that many travelers began choosing rail "before the government shutdown and any flight cancellations."
With Thanksgiving travel ramping up, both companies are urging passengers to plan ahead and, if necessary, be ready to pivot when plans change.