can't know the answer to that are going to influence '24. we know which questions are the key ones to know about for 2024. the known unknowns. the biggest is what happens in the republican party. do they nominate trump again or do they tear themselves apart and not nominating him? second, what happens to the economy. we know voters are dissatisfied with a economy of high growth, unemployment, but high inflation. all the predictions are we'll have the opposite in a year. much lower inflation, but higher unemployment. will voters be more satisfied with that? what do they think about biden's health. do they think he's up to the job for another four years? can either party break out of the demographic and geographic trends that we have seen that have essentially left us in something very close to a stalemate over a decade. and finally, does that republican house do more damage to biden through their investigations? or they do more damage to the gop brand through the way

they -- by potentially reinforcing this image of extremism that hurt republicans so much through purple states. there are others, but for me those are the biggest known unknowns for 2024. >> and that last one is a great question because you have heard republicans, you know, they have been basically chomping at the bit to take over the majority for obvious reasons. but with such a small majority, you negotiation i heard from republicans who say, we're concerned about what these investigations look like and what path this goes down and do we look like we have a strategy that we have it together or -- we don't know who is going to be the house speaker next week when the new congress takes over. >> good point. ron, thank you very, very much. >> thank you, guys. happy holidays. >> thank you. "cnn this morning" continues right now. good morning. it is 8:00 a.m. eastern. we're so glad you're with us.

it is december 27th. welcome to "cnn this morning." all right, so we will begin with travel chaos. >> yeah. >> glad you made it back. >> barely. >> i made it back. but we are empathizing with all of you stuck in the airport this morning. more airport chaos ahead for travelers trying to get home after christmas, more than 2800 flights canceled today. that is after more than 4,000 flights were canceled monday. travelers with southwest airlines really feeling the worst of it. 62% of all southwest flights have been canceled today. >> and if you're looking to rebook a flight, prepare to wait. longer than normal. southwest just told customers they will have to wait until december 31st to rebook. yes, december 31st. several days away from now. new bookings won't be possible until january 3rd. the ceo of southwest airlines telling "the wall street journal" we had a tough day today, and in all likelihood we'll have another tough day tomorrow as we work our way out of this. this is the largest scale event that i have ever seen.

>> so let's go to our colleague nick valencia, who joins us live at atlanta hartsfield jackson international airport. kaitlan told me a water main broke there yesterday, just to add to things? >> reporter: the temperatures are really cold here. it is adding to things. there is alarms going off here, not right now so much. but it is adding to this post christmas travel chaos that is continuing for at least one more day here. this is the line right now for southwest airlines. you're looking at about an hour and a half, two hours to get to the front of the gate. the lines are bad, but not as bad as the stories we were hearing. i spoke to a family, they were traveling to steamboat springs until 4:00 this morning when they got an alert saying their connecting flight in texas was canceled. they say they have a full schedule booked and they're going to miss out on $30,000 if

they don't get on their flight as scheduled. another family had been traveling for four days, they want to get back to wichita, they said it has been at least that long since they last saw their personal belongings. >> not expecting something like this for sure. >> financially this is going to take a toll. how much could you miss out on if you don't get on your flight to colorado? >> probably 30 plus thousand dollars for a group of ten. >> we got off a cruise in fort lauderdale since friday. >> what has been the issue? how come you can't get home? >> southwest. we have been lied to. there must have been some enormous storm that covered the united states and every flight in the world has been canceled. because every flight has been canceled has been storm related. so we live in wichita. if my boss is watching this, yes, it's true, i didn't just blow off the day, i'm actually standing in an airport doing nothing, and i do have a ticket and i hope to come to work at some point in my life. >> reporter: the joneses say they just want to get back home,

want to get back to work. that's how desperate they are to get back home. they say everyone they have spoken to at southwest at the ticket counters, at the gates, have been lovely and empathized with them, even though they say it is too much for them to bear right now because they just want to get back to where they're coming from. more and more people start to show up at the line every minute here and they're hoping that they don't have the bad news that so many others are receiving and we're hearing from today are receiving. >> it is hard on the southwest employees, you're right, as well. nick valencia, thank you. >> in atlanta, yesterday, that water main break contributed to the issues. there were restrooms totally closed, people -- everyone was trying to deal with it as competently as possible. >> how did you get so lucky? >> i don't know. i booked early, yeah. >> they didn't want you to be alone. >> look at chicago, midway

international airport, it is the second on the list of most canceled flights today. more than half of the flights were canceled yesterday. that left hundreds of travelers trying to figure out other backup plans to get home. some are waiting in line for hours, three or four hours for answers. look at the baggage claim at bwi. travelers were forced to retrieve their own luggage from the sea of bags, no help from airline staff. adrienne broaddus is there. you showed us this. i'm still shaken by the baggage you showed us the last hour we spoke with you. what are you seeing and what are you hearing from officials at the airlines there as they're dealing with this? >> we'll talk about the bags and the officials later. right now i want to focus on the people. the people. that's who is most impacted. like my new friend catherine. she is going to tell us what she's been through, and why her bag, why she needs it so desperately. catherine, thank you for being here. no laughing matter here.

almost tears. >> it is. it is because we were flying from arizona to chicago to go to albany. they told us when they canceled our flight, the second we got off the plane from arizona, they told us that our flight was canceled. when we got off the plane, we looked around, we waited two and a half hours to find out what was going on. can we get a new flight somewhere to albany. to no avail, everything is canceled until the 30th or the 31st. we think, okay, they told us -- assured us our luggage would be in albany. we send our daughter to albany, my husband and i are both on medication, she went to albany and they told her there is no luggage there and that was 6:00 last night. so, we come here, and they tell us our luggage is here, but they don't -- they can't give it to us. i said, we have medication, we need it. we can't pull it, we don't have the manpower. >> reporter: and that's part of the frustration. catherine is one of many stories

and her bag is her insulin, those who live with diabetes know how important that medication is. and there is other people who need their medication too. yes, some might say don't you travel with it in your bag, you probably only have a very little with you on your checked bags, and it is also important to underscore you don't live here in chicago, you're trying to get home to phoenix, but you're about to rent a car and drive to -- >> albany. we came from phoenix. we tried to get back to phoenix. there is no phoenix either. we're driving. we're hoping we can get a rent-a-car, which were all out yesterday. today, this morning, they said there would be some. we're hoping to drive to albany. so weather permitting we'll get there safe and we won't crash and die. and we can't get medication anywhere, to stay and stand there, it is a mess. a mess. a mess. >> reporter: our hearts are with you. we appreciate you sharing your story and this is just one element. people aren't so much concerned about the long lines anymore,

they need their life saving medication. we're going to let you go. will you give my friend sandy on the other side your last name before you take off because we would like to keep in touch with you, she's just one story. i'll snake around on the other side, he's been waiting here -- he wanted to share his story too. go ahead. >> before you leave catherine -- >> reporter: hold on, stand by. >> it is a 13-hour drive from bwi to albany. and can you ask catherine what she plans to do if they can't get medication, what is -- do they have a backup plan? what is -- what is her next option, does she think? >> reporter: so, catherine was kind enough to wait for us. i promised her five minutes max. we went over that. so i let her go. i can't ask that follow-up right now. she's leaving chicago midway here in illinois, to drive to albany. we don't know what her backup

plan. she's likely wishing and hoping for the best. but the thing is, she says she knows her luggage is here. it is somewhere in this sea of bags. and, kaitlan, that is what is so frustrating for these passengers because you're so close, and you can't reach and get what it is that you really need. we'll send it back to you. >> well, adrienne, i see you have someone else there with you. what is his travel experience been like? >> reporter: so, his name is sandy, we just met a moment ago. fill us in on your travel experience, we know you're trying to get your bags. >> oh, yes. i was here on saturday, spent the whole day while my flight got delayed, delayed, delayed, and all of a sudden at -- i was actually holding on to my bag, and all of a sudden, at, like -- at -- it was supposed to go at 7:00, then to 4:20 and i had to rush and check my bag and got

there and the flight got canceled after i waited an hour getting there. >> reporter: so you live here, but they're still going to send your bag somewhere else? >> now my bags are on the way -- they're somewhere here, they tell me, but i can't get them. they tell me there is no manpower to retrieve my bags. it is crazy. and we have been on the phone for, like, ten hours, trying to get through to southwest. their computer system hasn't worked. nothing, you know, it says to rebook your flight online and it doesn't let you do it. there is no information. there is no way to get information. so i came here first thing this morning just to see if i could find my bag, and, you know, it is frustrating. it is not -- they tell me here at the baggage claim office, they say basically your bag is here, it is going to go to fort lauderdale, we don't know when, and then eventually it will come back here. >> reporter: we appreciate your time as well. so those are just two people, two stories, but folks have been coming up to us all morning

wanting to share their experience, kaitlan. >> i can't even imagine what the -- that has been like for them. thank you for finding both of them and talking to them to really humanize what the delays look like. it is not just cancellations and issues waiting in line. it is medications. 13-hour drive, no baggage. adrienne broaddus, thank you for that report. all right, on top of all of this there is this record-breaking and very deadly storm that continues in buffalo, new york, this morning. 28 people have died so far in western new york as a result of this storm that has brought high winds and nearly 50 inches of snow to some areas. officials fear the death toll could rise. search and rescue efforts are continuing this morning, so i want to bring in buffalo's deputy mayor crystal rodriguez dabney. thank you, i'm so sorry, i mean, beyond the blizzard of '77 and the death toll at 28 now. are you expecting that to rise?

>> we are. thanks for having me. we are expecting that to rise today. we should have an update for the community midmorning. but we are expecting that number to go up sadly. >> a grim question, but i think a necessary one is what are -- what are most of these people dying as a result of? >> some are indoors. some are sad stories of carbon monoxide poisoning. some are in vehicles. and sadly some are outside. we don't know all of the stories, but there is a combination where they're being found. we have snowbanks and some of our first responders are not hopeful about what we're going to find once those snowbanks are cleared. >> they think people got buried in the snowbanks in their cars? >> having walked, trying to escape the abandoned cars. we had a driving van in the city of buffalo, people were trying to get home, and they were stuck, and so many people tried

to ride out the storm in their car, but also some people tried to walk and leave their cars, so we're seeing a combination of people in cars and outside of cars. >> i'm so sorry to hear all of that. yesterday we were joined by the county executive of the erie county there. who talked to us about it being so bad that even some of your first responders have had to be rescued. i think that says so much. is that still going on? >> it is not still going on. but it was something that was a huge problem for us. we had rescue vehicles that were trying to get to emergency situations that were calling saying, we're stuck. and so we had rescuers rescuing the rescuers. and when the state came in, we were saying that that was a priority. that we needed to help the rescuers first sao o they can g and help the public. >> the mayor has also said that there has been looting and

called it reprehensible. that is exacerbating the crisis you guys are going through right now. is that right? >> that's making it worse because the police who are trying to respond to emergency situations related to health now have to respond to emergency situations related to crimes. we have people who are taking tvs, we have people who are breaking into stores that have nothing to do with just basic survival, and it is reprehensible. >> your message to anyone in the county watching right now, is it still stay home? >> today we do have a driving ban still in the city of buffalo. we are still trying to clear out. we recognize that people want to get out and get moving. we ask, please, for your continued patience as our dpw workers, public workers, police, fire, national grid, are trying to get out here, clear the way, so that we can restore power to those that don't have it yet.

and so we can clean up and get the city clear. please adhere to the driving ban today, it continued in the city of buffalo. we're trying our best to get things cleaned up and we thank you for your continued patience. >> deputy mayor crystal rodriguez dabney in buffalo, good luck to you. we're thinking of all of you. >> thank you so much. on the international front, russia's foreign minister has issued an ultimatum saying that ukraine must fulfill russia's proposals or the russian army is going to take mats ters into it own hands. this as president zelenskyy is warning about what the situation looks like on the front lines. >> translator: bakhmut and other are areas in donbas, the situation there is difficult, painful, the occupants are spending all resources available to them and these are significant resources, to squeeze out at least some progress. >> cnn's will ripley is live

outside of lviv in ukraine, for cnn this morning. you're hearing what he's saying about bakhmut. he was just there last week seeing the ukrainian forces. what else is happening? >> reporter: good morning, kait kaitlan. if you read between the lines, what he's saying without saying it, when he says difficult and painful, is that there are casualties. casualty numbers that go unreported here in ukraine. but yet nonetheless the troops there are taking a very heavy hit and on the russian side, presumably as well. because both sides have been lobbying each other with artillery. not to mention the fact that the areas are so heavily filled with land mines that it makes it very difficult to make any advance. that's why the front lines in the donbas have essentially been more or less unchanged despite relentless attacks from both sides trying to take territory from each other. it is a very dire situation indeed. there are still millions of people without power as a result of russian air strikes, even

though the power situation has been improving. in the last few minutes, the air raid sirens went off in kyiv, which has the nation bracing for the potential of another russian attack. there are also cyberattacks that have increased three fold in the last two years, saying 4500 cyberattacks targeting military targets and civilian infrastructure, a remarkable number. they're getting hit on all fronds here in ukraine. >> saying essentially russia is doing everything that it will short of essentially nuclear capabilities and employing those. what about what here hearing from ukraine's foreign minister. they would like for russia to be barred from the united nations security council. that seems pretty unlikely. but it is something that they're asking to happen. >> reporter: yeah there is actually no mechanism written into the u.n. charter to remove one of the five permanent members of the united nations security council, which, of course, includes the united states, china, russia, britain. this is something that ukraine has said that russia doesn't deserve to be on. they don't deserve to have veto

power because essentially any resolution against russia for alleged war crimes, any condemnation can be vetoed by russia. ukraine says it is time to kick russia out of the u.n. and remove them from the u.n. security council. but at this stage, doesn't seem to be a realistic option even though the ukrainians have certainly been pounding their fists at the desk for quite some time saying it is time to do something to punish russia for its actions here in ukraine against civilians. >> will ripley, thank you. well, this morning, time is running short, not out yet, but short, for minority leader kevin mccarthy to secure votes he need to be elected house speaker, one way from today. the newly elected ed congress be sworn in, but several incoming republicans said they will not vote for mccarthy's bid to be speaker. lauren fox is live on capitol hill with more. but then the question is who? >> reporter: that is the question. pressure is mounting on kevin mccarthy to lock up those remaining votes. the state of play now is there

are five conservatives who have said that they will not support kevin mccarthy for speaker, without some kind of concession. there could be more. some conservatives arguing behind the scenes that there are more concerns growing, but the concern right now among moderates is the fact that they are in a position where they could go into next week and there could be multiple ballots on the floor of the house of representatives where they could be in a position where they could take not just a day, but multiple days to sort out. the concern that when they were elected in november, voters gave them the power to come to washington, to do oversight of the biden administration and they could be in a position where that just can't really get under way because they do not have the speaker. those conservatives calling for a significant rules change where they want to empower any one member to bring up a vote to oust the speaker at any time if kevin mccarthy didn't do something they wanted to do. you can understand, poppy, how

ungovernable the republican conference would be if kevin mccarthy was constantly looking over his shoulder having to make every decision knowing in the back of his mind that any member could bring up a vote to oust him at any moment. >> yeah, and some republicans have been saying that would literally stop business being done for either party, whoever is in power, right, in the chamber, because every day this could happen. every day one member could object and that uld happen. >> reporter: exactly. democrats could use it too to delay any action on the floor, poppy. >> lauren fox, thank you very much. you'll have a busy week ahead. we appreciate it very much. speaking of the republican majority, coming up, new york congressman elect george santos has been speaking out, now denying he's a fraud, but admitting to lying about his education and employment history among other things. >> i'm not a criminal. not here. not abroad. in any jurisdiction in the world have i ever committed any crimes. atural. treat it that way with aveeno® daily moisture.

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all right, incoming republican congressman-elect george santos now admitting that he lied about his education and employment history. he confessed that he never graduated from a college or university after saying he graduated from beruche college, he never worked for citigroup or goldman sachs despite saying he did. he said he's sorry for embellishing his record. >> i'm not a fraud. i'm not a criminal who defrauded the entire country and made up this fictitious kacharacter and ran for congress. i've been around for a long time. they know me. they have done business dealings with me. i'm not going to make excuses for this, but a lot of people overstated their resumes or twist a little bit or -- i'm not

saying i'm not guilty of that. if i disappointed anyone by resume embellishment, i'm sorry. >> joining us now is michael gold who is one of the two "new york times" reporters who broke the story on george santos and the discrepancies. the headline, who is george santos? his resume largely fiction, that led us to now where we are with these interviews he's doing. it is more than just overstating his resume, isn't it? >> i think that case can be made. mr. santos said he graduated from beruche in 2010. he says he never graduated from any institution of higher learning now. we still don't know about his educational background. that's a hole there. in an interview with the new york post and wabc he said he misspoke when he said he worked directly for citigroup and goldman sachs. he's very specific about the job

titles there, the order in which he had those positions. so that's a place to start i think in terms of figuring out where the truth actually lies here. >> i mean, where do you even begin? but, one of the -- what appears to be a lie is something he said that has to do with the national tragedy and that is the pulse nightclub shooting because he claimed that four of the people murdered there worked for him. anthony weiner who works for wabc now asked him about this in this radio interview. i want people to listen. >> were your grandparents refugees that survived the holocaust? >> i never said they were hung hungarian. >> i'm sorry. ukrainian. forgive me. >> ukraine -- so my father ukrainian, my grandmother belgium, that's the story. he goes from ukraine to belgium, they go to brazil. >> so, reports your grandparents were born in brazil are wrong? >> to the best of my knowledge,

no. >> got it. did anyone thatish in the pulse shooting? >> we had people who were being hired by the company at the time -- i was in florida during the pulse nightclub shooting, at a different nightclub, but we did lose four people who were going to be coming to work for the company. >> now, congressman -- >> what is your reaction to that? >> so, probably important to start with where these pulse comments first came up in an interview shortly after the congressman-elect won out in long island, he told wnyc his company at the time lost four employees at the pulse nightclub shooting. you hear in that interview, the language is shifting now. they were in the process of being hired by the company. that's harder for us to confirm. my colleague and i reviewed obituaries and news conference of all victims who died in that shooting and couldn't find any four that worked for the same company, let alone the ones in

mr. santos' biography. there is a lot to explore here. we don't know what company he's speaking of. we know he did spend some time in orlando. and in florida in 2016. he was registered to vote there in that election. so i think we're still exploring exactly the nature of those claims. and to the other point, he's also claimed that his grandparents fled holocaust era persecution in europe. cnn as you know and the forward, a jewish publication, reported suggesting that may not be the case, the times has not independently var ferified or confirmed that. >> you veighave a lot of questi about his finances, something that he spoke about in the radio interview, saying, yes, he's had these financial difficulties, he's talked about real issues that if they are true obviously are genuine things that other people struggled with. when it comes to what his finances look like, he talks about this, but he did loan himself $700,000, his campaign, this election cycle. what questions do you still have

about george santos. >> i think a big question for us is where that money came from, and we're not suggesting there is anything untoward about it. but in a financial disclosure, he filed with the house during his run in 2020, he suggested he was making $55,000 a year. his campaign was loaned significantly less money by him during that election than in 2022 he says he's making a $700,000 salary, his company is doing dividends of 1 to $5 million. we don't know a lot about what this company does, we don't know a lot about its business model or who its clients are and you want to know to who they're working with and who they're doing business with. >> wanting a chance to respond to -- because every time you've done an article including front page of the times again today, you have asked for him to talk to you, right? >> yes. >> and he's declined every time? >> we have yet to speak to mr. santos. we have spoken to his representatives. >> he went after you and your colleagues at "the new york times" in this interview saying you, quote, made it -- you made it your mission to slander me.

what is your response? >> grace and i stand by the reporting we have done and the follow-up stories. i can only speak to the stories we have written, not the many follow-ups that have been done. one thing that mr. santos said in his interviews yesterday is that he denies ever committing criminal charges. there is a report that we found, a court case in brazil, that we pulled up, that suggests that he has admitted to a case of check fraud and one thing we have seen is that brazilian media outlets released new details and delved into that more and corroborated our reporting. >> he also corroborated your reporting by admitting that he lied about those big parts of his resume that you first uncovered. so, thank you for joining us to talk about this. >> thank you. just ahead, china opening up partially. we'll tell you about latest changes, incredibly significant changes to the travel policies as they are easing covid restrictions amid a surge in case numbers and the protests in recent weeks.

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welcome back to "cnn this morning." chinese president xi jinping is calling for a new health strategy as the covid situation in china worsens. his comments come after china abruptly abandoned its zero covid policy this month following nearly three years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing. a sudden change that has resulted in a huge wave of infections leaving hospitals badly strained, pharmacy shelves empty, and starting on january 8th, international travelers flying to china will only need a

negative pcr test, they will no longer be required to apply for digital codes used to track people's health or quarantine. a rolot of changes. let's talk about that is happening in china right now with ian bremmer. good morning. this is like and then now they're allowing paxlovid when they didn't allow foreign made vaccines. xi jinping has done a complete 180, and it seems shocking, unexpected, i wonder what you think is driving it. >> it is a stunning 180. a lot of people thought maybe after he got that third term at the party congress a couple months ago then they would open up. they had no intention of doing that at all coming out of the congress. he was saying this was most successful covid policy in the world. it was only when the demonstrations began that suddenly it got through to xi jinping this unsustainable and he didn't just tweak it, he

didn't prepare for it, he suddenly let it rip and you're right, what this means is you're going to see enormous spread of cases and a lot of people, a lot of elderly and chinese particularly either aren't vac na vaccinated at all or only mrna chinese vaccines, less effective than what we have in the west, and that means you're seeing extraordinary numbers of deaths or there will be extraordinary numbers of deaths. the chinese government stopped recording most covid deaths in conjunction with this new policy. >> right. and how do you think that's going to reflect on xi? >> internationally it is going to reflect pretty badly. because what this means is that xi jinping can no longer be counted on to be consistent in what he says and what he does going forward. we see we have a lot less data coming out of china than we did five, ten years ago when xi jinping first took over. what does that mean? if you're an investor, you need

metrics, data, if you have no idea what is happening in the country, it makes -- you're a lot more compelled to make it feel like that's a safe investment for you going forward. if you're thinking about -- if you're japan and talking about doubling your arm spending, the fact that xi jinping is a leader that seems so volatile makes you more scared about your own national security. so you'll spend a lot more on your military. on pretty much every front, this is bad news, even though we will see china's economy bounce a lot stronger and a lot more quickly as a consequence of this policy. >> can we talk about china's economy and the u.s. economy and how, like, apple and what happened at the foxconn factory ties into all of this. i just wonder what you think -- i think companies have realized like apple, oh, my gosh, to be so reliant on a country like china given the policies they n put in place can cripple you.

>> also -- >> at the same time hank paulson, the former treasury secretary said last year, remember, it is impossible at this point to decouple the united states economy and china's economy. so where does it leave us? >> well, suddenly a sudden and complete decoupling of the kind that we have seen between europe and russia would throw the united states into an immediate and very sharp recession. and american corporations don't want that. but let's keep in mind that when the americans and the chinese were meeting over the russian invasion, we told the chinese, if you provide military support to russia, we will put direct secondary sanctions on you. in other words, we were prepared to decouple from the chinese government in really serious ways. in ways that would really hurt our economy if they behaved in ways that we didn't like. and, of course, that sends a message to u.s. corporations as well. the decoupling that is actually happening right now is principally in high tech what we

call dual use areas that are both economic and directly for military and national security. and we're talking semiconductors, for example, big issue about tiktok, maybe forced to sell off their u.s. branch. that kind of decoupling can and will happen and companies that are in the high tech space are going to be faster in moving their production away from mainland china. >> also, ian, just back to the changes we're seeing from china, what does it look like in your center? what is your prediction of when international travelers are ready to go back to china. we don't actually know how many visas or when they're going to restart -- to start issuing the visas, we don't know how many flights are going into china. right now it is 6% of what was happening in 2019. so, do you think international travelers will be going back to china? what will that look like, do you think? >> first of all, i think chinese travellers were going to be

traveling internationally almost immediately and the tourism dollars will be a major spike. that's been completely cut off from most of the last three years. so economically that's what we're going to feel in the united states. in new york, in l.a., and big international tourist cities. but in terms of westerners, everyone i talked to that does serious business in china is very concerned about the fact they haven't been able to meet with any of their interlocutors on the ground and zoom calls with the chinese is not getting business done. so, they're quite -- they feel it is quite urgent to start traveling, and i would say as soon as they can get visas, they're going. and, of course, it is bureaucratically it is going to be difficult and the people have the best relations will get their visa stamped most quickly. i expect given everything else we have seen from xi in the past only several weeks that you're going to see this country open up to travel very, very quickly. >> ian bremmer, thank you very

much. appreciate your insight. just ahead, gas prices are way down. how much are you going to pay more, though, at the pump in the new year. we have that reporting ahead. lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. tastes great in our iced coffees too. which makes waking up at 5 a.m. to milk the ws a little easier. (moo) mabel says for y, it's more like 5:15. man: mom, really?

we're just talking about if travelers need a drink at the airport, because travel has been such a nightmare. and another day of disruption for air travelers across the country for those trying to get to their destination, more than 2800 flights canceled today, most of them southwest airlines struggling to get back on track

after a major technical meltdown of their communications system. joining us now, rahel solomon, cnn international correspondent mark stewart. well, didn't used to work for an airline related company? >> i spent time in grad school writing for points guy. >> what is going on? >> well, it is -- let's say, a plethora of problems. it is not just one thing. and these issues really started to build back in the summer of 2021 when people started to fly once again. it is, of course, the pilot shortage, the flight attendant shortage, the logistical, the it issues that southwest is face, the weather. but above all, airlines right now are on this big pressure to keep their profit margins high. so they are packing planes, there are no extra seats and they're trying to beef up schedules. airlines only make money when planes are in the sky. so, if there is a hiccup along the way, everyone feels it. there is no extra seat on another flight. and that's why this is hitting

so hard. >> well, the referee that we interviewed earlier, he was retiring, it was his last game, last game he was refereeing and he was talking about how his flight got canceled, and then they had another one, but it was overbooked by 22 seats, so asked for 22 volunteers, they normally ask for one or two. it seems like this is an issue that southwest could have prevented. it is not about the weather we have seen in recent days. >> years ago. >> we heard from the ceo, he almost -- he issued an apology and acknowledged that things were not where they should be. many companies are dealing with these antiquated software systems and such, but when you're a customer-facing business like an airline, maybe that's not something you should delay. >> to that point, the ceo did tell "the wall street journal" that they're committed to investing in those systems, but t they essentially did not come through this time around and that promised the company will invest in better systems,

modernizing the operations. >> let's talk about gas prices. our colleague matt egan has interesting reporting on the fact that there are going to be less beginning of this new year, but then more? >> yes. so gas prices have been really volatile. anyone who owns a car, who has filled up their tank this year -- >> me. >> me too. you know prices have been all over the place. so gas buddy just put out its new forecast for 2023 and the forecast for the year is about $3.49 a gallon t. that doesn't mean we'll be taking at $3.49 all year. we're tracking this year to end the year at $3.99. that's still about 50 cents savings per gallon. that should mean about $270 for the average american family. that said, this sort of caveat is there is a high level of volatility and uncertainty. so, that is the hope and we should say that gas buddy was pretty much right on the dot this year round. here is hoping. the government forecast is the same, about $3.49 a gallon.

heading into the summer, though, we're probably going to see that move back closer to $4, which we see every season, right, as demand starts to pick up, prices also go up. so, you know, we could be sort of still in for some swings, but we're not expecting knock on wood to see the $5 a gallon that we saw in june of this year when prices were -- had really spiked. >> and it is all relevant to this conversation. a lot of people we spoke to one woman who is having to drive and get rental cars because what is happening with their flights. in addition to this -- what we're seeing, how are we seeing consumer habits changing as a whole because of the up and down we're seeing with gas prices. >> americans in particular have become very nimble. at the beginning of the pandemic, people were certainly complaining, the beginning of this gas crisis back in -- march is when we really saw this elevated prices. people were complaining. by the end of the summer, aaa did a survey and found that three-quarters, about three-quarters of americans actually made adjustments in their routines.

they combined errands, they ate out less often. >> $5, was that mark. >> it was that threshold. and they adjusted and so this was perhaps a learning experience that we need to be very savvy when it comes to how we move. >> we'll see what it does going forward. mark and rahel, thank you for joining us this morning. >> okay. what are you doing? what are you doing saturday night? anderson and andy are back for another global celebration. join them for new year's eve from times square at 8:00 p.m. eastern time on cnn cnn saturday. don will join them as well hosting from new orleans. just ahead, a western new york couple moving why buffalo is known as the city of good neighbors. they surely are after they opened their home to a group of south korean tourists stranded in the storm. one of those good neighbors joins us.

buffalo has long been called the city of good neighbors and our next guest is exactly why it has that name. during the height of the massive winter storm that buffalo saw a couple living in the suburb of williamsville opened their doors to a group of ten south -- stranded south korean tourists after their van was stuck in the snow. for the next two days they bonded over football and over their mutual love of korean food. joining us now is the homeowner andrea campagna. andrea, we're so impressed with you and your story and your grace in hosting this family. can you just kind of tell us how you met them, how you met these tourists. i'm told they just came to your door and they kind of knocked

and you thought maybe it was a neighbor. >> yes, we did. we heard a knock at the door around 2:00 p.m. right when the storm was really starting to kick up and two gentlemen were there asking for shovels. they said we need help. and my husband went out to help them. we got about 10 feet out and realized he couldn't see anything. the snow was coming down really heavy and then they said, we're part of a tour group. soon ten people were in our home and freezing cold. >> i love what one of the girls in the group sent you, this note, and she wrote thanks to your help i was able to survive. thanks to you i'm bringing special memories i will never forget your kindness. thank you so much. merry christmas. talk about a christmas gift and a miracle that they needed. >> that was so heart warming. she was unsure of her skills with english and so she handed me this written on a napkin and

it brought me to tears. it was really our pleasure to help them. >> and so you guys -- what did you do during those two days that they were staying with you? i know you had luckily some food, you had pork shoulder i think you said you had bought on sale and put in the freezer and you just started cooking together. >> yes, and i think that that was really comforting for all of them, especially because during a blizzard there's not much to do. they had found out that we actually had our first date at a korean restaurant and so all the women in the group got to cooking and they found out the dish that we had on our date and they recreated that dish for us. >> wow. do you think you guys will keep in touch? >> we will. we really feel we made lifelong friends and several of them have invited us to visit them in korea. >> you've got to go. >> you've got to go. >> and some airline should fly you there for free because you were so good. just saying. just saying.

>> subtle hint, hint. andrea campagna this is such a heart warming story, we've been talking about the misery people have been experiencing and especially what's been happening in your area buffalo, and outside buffalo. thank you for sharing your story. thank you for hosting them and for joining us this morning. >> it was our pleasure. thank you. >> such a great story. >> good way to end it. >> a great way to end it. "cnn newsroom" is going to start right after this break. we will be back tomorrow morning. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual!!! what does it do, bud? it customizes our home insurance so we only pay for what we need! and what did you get, mike? i got a bike. ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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good morning, everyone. i'm jessica dean in washington. jim sciutto is off today. we begin with a travel nightmare for thousands of people stranded at airports across the country as southwest airlines experiences a meltdown. already more than 2,800 flights

canceled today, nearly 90%