This is an account of someone who got out on a commercial flight yesterday together with his wife:
“Michael we got out on American. There seems to be also a delta and a JetBlue flight leaving. They seem to leave around midday when the visibility is good.
We called American and got on the wait list for any flight out - that is the key part. The wait list. Then we were assigned seats for the next day.
Once we had our seats - you have to keep calling the airline to get the seats. We went to the airport at 8 for a flight. Don't go any later than that. Lines are long and tempers high. We probably should have gone at 6 or 7. Also leave a lot of time to get a taxi - there are not many around.
The airport had one security check point open and was running the scanners. No ac. However some small stores with food water open inside terminal.
The plane was a 747? (big) the people with assigned seats got on after the disabled and children at... There were 30 wheelchairs.
Then they fill the remaining seats from the standby list. That takes another couple of hours. Ac was on on plane. Tickets are written by hand, and prone to errors. Staff are working from check lists and head counts.
It might be possible to check a bag. We didn't and do not recommend checking. The chances of the bag making it seem slim however I saw some people with big bags.”