Thousands of flights were cancelled when Houston's airports closed Sunday through Wednesday. The stoppage was unprecedented and it caused problems around the country.
Airline industry expert Ken Jenkins says it was a massive headache, but not a complete disaster.
"Airlines are quite adept at handling these situations and rerouting their flights, schedules and crews."
Jenkins says one of the biggest problems is trapped flight crews.
"The crews have to be moved if it's a crew base which Houston is, I think, for Southwest and certainly United, then you may have displaced crews that can't get to the airport because of road closures and things of that nature."
The closure of the nation's fourth largest airport system stranded passengers in airports around the country and Jenkins says it took a while to get back in business.
"When the airports do open it may only be at 15 or 20% and then the next day maybe 30% and so on and so on as roads become more open, crews are more available and air craft are repositioned; it's a slow go but it takes a while to ramp back up."
Jenkins says airlines have plans for this type of emergency so it wasn't a complete disaster, but it was unpleasant with thousands of flights cancelled and travelers stuck in airports around the country.