Severe winter weather caused travel chaos over the weekend, affecting many Bermudians trying to get home from the US after the holidays.

Shawnette Somner, 51, told The Royal Gazette how her US Airways flight turned back to Philadelphia just 160 miles from the Island due to high winds on Friday.

She and her 15-year-old son then waited in a queue for five hours at Philadelphia airport to try to get another flight — but eventually had to stay an extra night in the city.

Mark Roberts, 22, from Sandys, said he almost got snowed into Atlantic City after a gambling holiday with friends.

He eventually reached Boston airport and ended up sleeping overnight on the floor there, only to have his flight home the next day cancelled due to staff illness.

And Zakiya Lord was still stuck in the States yesterday after her flight back from JFK at the weekend was cancelled.

She has been told she can’t be booked onto another flight home until Thursday.

Meanwhile, Bermudian student Daisy Gould got stuck here an extra three nights after her flight to Boston was cancelled on Saturday.

LF Wade Airport said yesterday it was operating as normal, though several flights were delayed.

Maintenance and Engineering Manager Wendall Burchall said: “All operations at the Bermuda LF Wade International are functioning as per normal.

“The operational impacts being experienced by the carriers and the ports of departure, due to the severe weather along the eastern seaboard, is something that each port of departure and carrier is responsible for in accordance with their ‘severe weather’ operational procedures.”

Ms Somner said she needed to get back to Bermuda for two funerals after visiting her 26-year-old son Ryan for the holidays in Philadelphia.

But she missed the first funeral — of an old college friend — after her Friday morning flight home had to turn back.

She said she had no complaint with that decision but felt US Airways treated passengers dreadfully once the plane touched down again in Philadelphia.

“We got back about 3.20pm EST,” she said. “We were told to go to [the customer service desk] and that we would all have to rebook our flights and that’s where people just started to become really agitated.

“We got to the [desk] about 3.45pm and most of us were still there by eight o’clock at night.”

Ms Somner claimed the only refreshment offered was a dozen cans of soda and US Airways representatives shared little information with tired and distressed travellers.

“There was absolutely no compassion. They told us the next available opening to fly would be Friday, January 10. In addition, they told us we could not get our luggage until Tuesday.”

The educator and her younger son stayed an extra night in Philadelphia after her elder son drove through ice to pick them up from the airport just before midnight.

She arrived early back at the airport on Saturday and got the last two seats on that morning’s Bermuda-bound flight.

“It became an issue of very poor and unprofessional treatment by US Airways staff” she said, adding that two pieces of her luggage were temporarily lost.

Mr Roberts, who runs Excellence Cruises, said he couldn’t get a ride to Philadelphia airport from Atlantic City on Friday due to heavy snow.

Instead, he forked out $250 for a limousine to Newark, only to arrive to find his flight to Atlanta delayed. Eventually, he reached Atlanta and made a connecting flight to Boston.

“When I got to Boston I had to sleep in the terminal, in the baggage claim area,” he said. “There was a bunch of people sleeping there.”

The next day, he checked in for his Delta flight home but it was cancelled due to staff illness.

He stayed another night in Boston, this time at a hotel paid for by Delta, and finally made it home on Sunday.

“It was a great feeling,” he said. “To be honest, I was kind of getting down on myself, thinking I’m never going to get out of here.”

Ms Lord, 36, from Somerset, was due to fly from JFK to Bermuda with JetBlue on Sunday — the same day a plane skidded off a taxiway at the airport soon after landing.

“They cancelled the flight in advance of the skidded plane,” she told this newspaper. “No explanation given or anything.

“Then the airport later shut down for a couple [of] hours. We stood in a short line for over four hours only to learn it would be days before we could get out.”

Ms Lord added: “My spouse lives here so I was fortunate enough not to have to get a hotel. It is certainly inconvenient though.

“They were unable to rebook me until the ninth, along with many other Bermudians on our cancelled flight. Not ideal at all. Many people had to find hotels.”

Ms Gould, a 23-year-old student from Hamilton Parish, was due to fly to Boston, where she lives and works, on Saturday.

“I woke up that morning and my flight was cancelled so I have got a couple more days at home,” she said. “I am not missing any classes but I work at a gallery up there on Newbury Street and I have had to postpone going back there for a little while.

“I’m lucky, in the sense that I was stuck here instead of in the snow and that my schedule is somewhat flexible.” She is due to return to Boston with Delta today.

Fiona Staunton, 16, from Bronxville, New York, is another who had her Island stay extended due to the disruption. She arrived on the Island on Boxing Day to visit a friend for part of the festive season. She was scheduled to fly back to the US on Sunday, but had to extend her holiday by an extra day after her JetBlue flight was cancelled at the last minute.

“My mother was back home going frantic trying to organise another flight for me over the telephone,” Ms Staunton, a student, said yesterday.

“At first she was told that I wouldn’t be able to fly back for another four days, but she was eventually able to work something out and get me on a flight today.

“While I was glad to have an extra day in Bermuda with my friend and her family, it also meant that I missed the first day back at school — and I was supposed to be taking some important exams. I’m now going to have to reschedule those, which is going to be really inconvenient for me.”

According to the website flightstats.com, delayed arrivals yesterday included American Airlines from Miami, Delta from Atlanta and JetBlue from New York.

AA’s flight to JFK from Bermuda was delayed by more than 12 hours, according to flighstats.com, while other delayed departures included Delta to Atlanta, JetBlue to JFK and US Airways to Philadelphia.

US Airways did not respond to a request for comment yesterday and it wasn’t possible to reach JetBlue over the telephone.