those are on southwest. the airline now apologizing, but as you can imagine that s little comfort for people who may miss out totally on seeing their loved ones this holiday season. i m beyond frustrated. and hurt. because i can t see my dad. my mom is in the hospital and i wanted to be there for her once she like got discharged. unfortunately because of the situation they are saying that the closest flight is the 29th. are you going to make it home today? no, likely not. i mean, i heard someone say over the intercom not to expect to get a flight within the next four days. that s definitely not what i wanted to hear. people just missing their family and loved ones. the log jam starting with the powerful winter storm that hit western new york the hardest. look at that. this morning people in buffalo struggling to get food, water, medicine, after days of driving bans and closed stores. we are going to take you live there in just a moment. let s go first to our team co
executives say they ll need to cancel many more tomorrow. then, breaking his silence did i embellish my resume, yes, i did. and i m sorry. but i m still the same guy, i m not a fraud. republican congressman-elect george santos admits he lied about major parts of his resume, but wait until he explains his jewish heritage claims. and miami dolphins quarterback tua tagovailoa has been placed in concussion protocol, hours after playing an entire game. welcome to the lead, i m phil mattingly, in for jake tapper. and we begin this hour with the winter travel meltdown plaguing a major u.s. airline. thousands of southwest airlines passengers are still stranded, unable to get to their destinations. some of those passengers is been trying to travel for five days or more, after a massive winter storm battered parts of the u.s. southwest canceled nearly 2,600 flights today, accounting for more than 85% of all flights canceled in the u.s. and the company s telling passengers
distributing paxlovid to the communities in the coming days. there is chaos and confusion we with covid in the past, there is light at the end of the tunnel finally. but now as china is finally loosening the borders, japan and india are increasing restrictions for travelers from china. they re worried about the spike in cases. japan s prime minister saying travelers will be tested on arrival and those who test positive will have to quarantine for seven-days and japan restricted flights to and from china and india has similar covid testing guidelines but still, this is so much penalty up demand from people to get out and travel, travel website c trip, chinese travel website said within 30 minutes of china making this announcement, online searches for popular tourist destinations from china jumped ten times to the highest level in three years. phil? remarkable. salina wang, great reporting. thank you. in the pop lead, she s the
tourist visas or allowing foreigners to apply for business, study or family reunion visas. finally people are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. online searches for popular international travel destinations on china s travel booking site jumped ten times within an hour of when the announcement was made. i have spoken to chinese citizens who have been stuck overseas for years, they are overjoyed and relieved finally there is a way for them to see family but there s also bitterness over how long this has taken. they ve already missed so many important moments, family deaths, births, reunions. but in response to this change other countries are starting to issue restrictions on travelers from china. japan announced travelers from the country will be tested for covid upon arrival, japan s prime minister also said the country will restrict plans to increase flights in and out of china. india announced similar covid testing guidelines. authorities in india said the guidelines are aime