Dozens of flights delayed early Friday as MSP Airport hit with holiday travel boom

MINNEAPOLIS — If you or your loved ones are planning on traveling home on Friday, we have some potentially bad news for you.

A wave of storms is moving across parts of the country, snarling what’s set to be a record holiday travel season. A dense fog advisory is in effect through noon Friday across Minnesota, with widespread rain to follow.

Early Friday, hundreds of flights have been canceled across the country and more than 11,000 have been delayed.

As of 11:15 a.m. Friday, 72 flights have been delayed at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and five have been canceled, according to the website FlightAware.

“I wasn’t anticipating that, that’s for sure. But I see the security times and that should be alright. But I was just telling my Uber driver, it was a little more than I expected, for sure,” said traveler Jared Compton, of Minneapolis. “Take a breath. Just breathe. Everybody’s trying to get somewhere. You being frustrated with other people or your family members or your children or anything like that doesn’t help the situation. Just take a breath and relax.”

The TSA expects 40 million travelers between Dec. 19 and Jan. 2, up 6% from last year.

On Thursday, more than 700 flights were canceled across the U.S., with severe weather spawning tornadoes in Texas and heavy snowfall causing road closures and spinouts in the Pacific Northwest.

Beret Leone

Beret Leone is a native Minnesotan who joined the WCCO team as a reporter in September 2022 – and she’s thrilled be back home in the Twin Cities! Beret grew up in Chaska and graduated from Bethel University.