It's no consolation to the refugees huddled in airports around the world, but the truth is that the global

air-travel system is a technological marvel, capable of getting you to the other side of the planet in less

than a day. Just not these days, thanks to a series of late-December wintry blasts that shut down swaths

of Western Europe, immobilized Moscow's airports and buried the northeastern U.S. Air travelers had it

theworst, especially thosewhowanted to get to orfrom New York City, where all three of the area's

airports--which handle about one-third of U.S. flights--were shut down for a time. Thousands of flights

werecanceled,andtheripplesquicklyspreadworldwide,leavingpassengersstrandedinAtlanta's

Hartsfield-Jackson, London's Heathrow and Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok. It was inevitable. Airlines have

cut their schedules to the bone, leaving no wiggle room to cope with weather madness, let alone true

catastrophe. In time, of course, the snow will melt and the runways will clear, but the storms served as a

cold reminder: air travel may be a miracle, but it's a fragile one.