Smoke leads to string of cancelled Medford flights

Medford, Ore. — Smoke is continuing to cause problems around the Rogue Valley. For the second day in a row, it was the reason several flights were cancelled at the Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport.

As if traveling wasn’t stressful enough, now Medford passengers are dealing with cancelled flights and having to rebook, quite literally, on the fly. NBC5 News spoke with one family who said their flight was rescheduled four times before being rebooked with a different airline.

While some were able to catch a different flight plan, other passengers weren’t so lucky.

“The show must go on,” said passenger Vince Herman.

Herman was one of many, whose flight was cancelled Friday.

“I got the message around 11 o clock that it was cancelled. I’m a musician, have to get to Colorado,” Herman said.

Now, it’s time for Plan B.

“So, I’m driving,” Herman said.

He wasn’t alone. Many at the airport were looking at other ways of getting to their destination.

“Got a rental car, luckily I got a rental car. Most of them are gone,” Herman said.

While Friday put an unfortunate detour in his itinerary, he’s staying positive.

“I fly out of here, just about every weekend and real familiar with all the folks at the airport – and they’re doing what they can,” Herman said.

He says he hopes the air will clear soon.

“I’ll do the drive, I’ve got XM Radio. Ready to go,” Herman said.

The airport is reminding everyone, the airlines are the ones making the final call on whether or not planes go up. It highly recommends keeping in contact with the airline you’ll be flying with, in case your flight has any delays or cancellations.