New York (CNN) -- While forecasters predict improving weather conditions in the Northeast for Tuesday, the news might be of little solace to the thousands of airline passengers who have been stranded since the holiday weekend -- and, in some cases, will still have to wait several more days before going home.
Zarmeen Hussain and her family knew their flight home to New Jersey -- scheduled for Monday evening -- might get canceled. But what they didn't expect was a delay of four days.
"We were very confused and like, oh my God," Hussain said from an Atlanta hotel Tuesday morning. She, her husband and daughter were in Georgia for a college reunion and were told the earliest available flight will be on Friday.
"We were thinking of the option of driving down, but the car rental company gave us a quote of $2,000," Hussain said, laughing. She said many rental car companies are out of vehicles.
Julie Stratton is in a similar predicament. She was scheduled to fly from New York to Indianapolis on Sunday, and ended up sleeping at LaGuardia Airport. Stratton said Monday she was told she might not be able to fly out until Thursday.
"It's not the best of scenarios, no," she said. "But you just have to make the best of it. There's nothing else you can do".
The storm that has unnerved domestic and international travelers produced blinding snow and wreaked havoc from the Carolinas to Maine. By Monday night, more than 4,155 flights had been cancelled, up to 32 inches of snow piled up in areas, and wind gusts blew as strong as 80 mph. CNN
