Thousands of people have been left stranded at airports because of Hurricane Sandy with disrupted itineraries leaving them in other cities for days, maybe even weeks longer than anticipated. With many starting to get frustrated with delays, some are turning to car rentals as an option.
All three major airports in New York-JFK, La Guardia and Newark are now open as of Thursday morning but for days flights were canceled. NBC News reported that car rental companies were reporting an unusual high of activity with travelers desperate to get on the road and get home.
A spokesman for Hertz, Richard Broome said to NBC News, "It's people saying, 'I'm stuck, I've got to get out of here." He said that 10,000 cars had been rented one-way from Sandy affected areas. Normally Broome told NBC News its only a few hundred at this time of year. A lot of people are choosing to drive out of town as opposed to waiting out long flight delays.
Hertz has a lot of reservations in New York but not enough cars to handle it, Broome added to NBC News. NBC News reported, "Orbitz is reporting a 14 percent spike in car rental rates in the Big Apple compared to last week, an indication of increased demand."
All of New York airports are now open for business but have limited service. The Telegraph newspaper reported that the airports normally have 300,000 passengers a day, but due to the storm that ran havoc in New York, they were shut down for a number of days leaving passengers stranded.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
