Airports see lingering cancellations, delays due to winter storms

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FILE - Southwest plane taking off. (Southwest Airlines)

Winter storm-related cancellations and delays that bogged down holiday travel were lingering on Monday at Bay Area airports, mostly on Southwest Airlines flights.

Mineta San Jose International Airport had 129 canceled flights as of noon Monday, according to FlightAware.

At San Francisco International Airport there were 73 cancellations and Oakland International Airport had 146.

Nationwide, there were just over 3,500 cancellations within, into, or out of the United States by midday on Monday, FlightAware reported.

Airports are advising travelers to contact their airlines online or via the app before heading to the airport.

"Given how disruptive the weather was to pre-Christmas travel across the country, I expect it will still be several days before airlines are able to catch-up and reset," said Scott Wintner, airport deputy director for marketing and communications at Mineta San Jose airport.

Most cancellations at nationwide and at Bay Area airports were flights on Southwest Airlines, which was heavily impacted by Winter Storm Elliott, airline officials said.

Over the holiday weekend, storms forced thousands of cancellations on the airline.

"With more than half of the airports where we operate in the continental U.S. under duress from the storm, Southwest is uniquely affected given our size and structure," Southwest said in a statement on Christmas Eve.

The airline posted an advisory for travelers on its website.