HEBRON, Ky. – The staff at Bruegger's Bagels is used to the morning rush. Especially when dealing with unexpected ebbs and flows related to their post at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
But, on this particular Monday morning, a Delta Air Lines ground stop threw the crew into ultra high gear.
A power outage at Delta's Atlanta hub caused global computer malfunctions. Roughly 300 flights were canceled worldwide, including four at CVG, where Delta had 80 scheduled departures. Around 9 this morning, flights had resumed normal operation – but delays and cancelations were still expected.
Jules Thompson, a counter associate at Bruegger's in Concourse B, said there's usually a rush between 8-9 a.m. That still happened, just on a slightly different scale.
"We were slammed," she said. "People couldn't get through security, so our rush was a little late and everybody came flooding in at once. And there's still more to come. But we just go with the flow."
Delta employees deal with the onslaught amid cancelations Monday morning
Max & Erma's, also housed in Concourse B, opened at 5 a.m., but Janice Castelleni, who works at the restaurant, experienced her own headaches this morning. A handful of accidents were reported on major surrounding roadways.
But, she said, all staff was accounted for. Guests, she added, should expect longer wait times.
"No two days are the same, but it tends to be slow steady (on Mondays)," Castelleni said. "It is definitely more hectic today. I've got a line at the door, and I've got to serve and host and bus (tables), so I wear many hats.
"But we do the best we can; we work as hard as we can and we accomplish it as soon as we possibly can," she said.
While concession activity was – and is – above normal for a Monday, CVG spokesman Bobby Spann said concessionaires "have been able to keep up with demand without any significant issues."
He had no immediate estimate on a likely sales boost for the day. But overall, concessions revenues are up at CVG in 2016. While most of that growth came via Concourse A, the launching point for all non-Delta CVG flights, sales have increased more than 6 percent year-to-date through May, the most recent report available.
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