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Bags Piling Up At DIA After Hundreds Of Flights Canceled

By Melissa Garcia

DENVER (CBS4) - Bags are piling up at Denver International Airport after a 120 more flight cancellations caused by the wintry weather.

Hundreds of passengers on canceled Frontier flights were in a holding pattern Sunday waiting for the return of their belongings at DIA baggage claim.

It was day two of baggage backups for the airline.

bags at DIA
(credit: CBS)

"I have never seen this airport this bad," said Ofelia Macias, who had finally gotten her check bags back after 24-hours waiting at the airport for a flight that never took off.

She wasn't the only one experiencing those delays.

"I got to baggage claim at 3 a.m. last night," said one Denver woman who was scheduled to fly home to see her parents during the holidays. "They told us it would take 4-6 hours, and I'm still waiting on my bags. I live in Denver. I have an apartment to go home to, but I've not been able to go home because I don't have luggage."

Some passengers' luggage contained items that they couldn't live without.

"Being a disabled veteran, if I don't have certain meds, I have to go to the hospital," said Steven Owens.

dia
(credit: CBS)

Airport officials confirmed that Frontier was experiencing significant issues across the board.

That included multiple aircraft filled with passengers stuck on the tarmac for over three hours Sunday.

A Frontier spokesperson said the weather was the cause of the many flight cancellations, and that some employees were unable to get to work due to the icy conditions.

Lunca Dinwiddie's kids didn't make it to their holiday destination either.

"They've been in several different gates, on two different planes, only for the flight to be canceled," Dinwiddie said.

Passengers said that the airline was offering to reschedule their flights for a Tuesday departure, three days after their flights were supposed to take off.

A Frontier spokesperson said customers would also have the option of a refund.

Click here to fill out a Refund Request Form or visit flyfrontier.com and click on the Contact Us section.

According to the airline, additional employees had been called in Sunday to assist passengers.

Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.

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