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Tourism: Blackout's Impact in Las Vegas Limited

LAS VEGAS -- The massive electric blackout that hit the Northeast on Thursday had a noticeable but limited impact on Las Vegas hotel and airport operations, casino and airport officials reported Friday.

Airports in several major feeder markets for Las Vegas were shut down after power went out across the northeastern and midwestern United States and southern Canada.

Blackout-related disruptions affected flights from New York, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto and Newark, N.J., McCarran International Airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said.

About 30 flights out of McCarran's 450 daily departures go to the affected cities, and about half of Thursday's arrivals and departures to and from those markets were delayed or canceled, Grey said.

As of 2 p.m. Friday, six of the 13 departures to the five affected markets had been delayed or canceled, Grey said. Nine of the 15 arrivals were delayed or canceled.

"Because of the cancellations, (Friday's) flights are a bit more full," Grey said. "But this hasn't affected that many people. We don't have (throngs of people) sleeping on benches."

Most of the affected visitors found themselves having to extend their stays because of the delays and cancellations.

"Some guests (at each of our properties) had trouble getting out because their flights were canceled. We are working with folks who are having difficulty with their travel on an individual basis," Park Place Entertainment Corp. spokeswoman Debbie Munch said.

As of midday Friday, about 150 guests at Park Place's five Las Vegas properties needing to stay over for an additional night had been accommodated, she said.

Some conventioneers attending a dry cleaners convention were stranded as their trade show ended.

Las Vegas Visitor and Convention Authority spokeswoman Erika Brandvik said the 18,000 attendees at the Clean '03 convention held by the World Educational Congress for Laundrying and Dry Cleaning had just adjourned when the blackout hit and an undetermined number of them were stranded.

Some visitors found themselves at the airport waiting to return home on departing flights.

For example, one group of four Michigan women stuck at the airport after a midweek stay at The Mirage said they were frustrated that their early afternoon flight was delayed by at least four hours.

Cindy McComb was disappointed she'd miss her son's 10th birthday party Friday evening. At best, she thought she'd get home early Saturday.

Another woman in the group, Mary Letters of Brighton, said they were worried about their families at home, after initially thinking that they were lucky to be in Las Vegas when their home area was without power.

Hotel-casino operators also said some incoming guests had to postpone their arrivals, but cancellations were limited.

Mandalay Resort Group spokesman John Marz said the company's properties "had a few phone calls" to cancel rooms over the weekend from New York City, but the numbers were not significant and the blackout "was not a big event for our company."

MGM Mirage spokeswoman Yvette Monet said the impact at her company's properties was small.

"We got some call-ins delaying reservations by a single day, but we haven't had outright cancellations (in significant numbers)," she said.

The resort operators explained that many weekend visitors from the Northeast arrived on Thursday evening flights that originated before the blackout struck.

And because it hit in the middle of the week, it was not difficult to accommodate most of the stranded visitors.

In addition to the local impact, Park Place Entertainment Corp. also had to close its Casino Windsor in Canada, while Harrah's Entertainment's Atlantic City properties felt a slight uptick in business as customers found themselves unable to return to upstate New Jersey and the greater New York City area.

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