Winter Storm Causes Thousands of Flight Cancellations

The winter storm bearing down on the Midwest and Northeast is causing delays and cancellations at some of the nation’s busiest airports. As of Friday morning, more than 2,000 flights have been grounded because of the weather.

According to data from FlightAwareFlightAware, more than 5,000 flights have been delayed and roughly 2,400 were canceled, the bulk of them arriving at or departing from airports in the Midwest and Northeast. Chicago O’Hare, Newark Liberty, LaGuardia, Boston Logan, and Philadelphia International are seeing the more significant flight-schedule disruptions.

As the snowy weather barrels through the Northeast and continues to upend flight schedules, travelers should prepare for further delays and cancellations at airports throughout the weekend. When major winter storms ground thousands of planes, the aftereffects often last for days. So expect further flight delays well after the storm has passed.

As usual, airlines are offer change-fee waivers, allowing flyers to adjust itineraries without penalty. With most of the airlines, the waivers are available for those traveling January 1 through 3. Find more information about fee waivers for major carriers at the following links:

• Air Canada
• AirTran
• Allegiant
• American
• Delta
• Frontier
• Hawaiian
• JetBlue
• Southwest
• Spirit
• United
• Virgin America

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(Photo: Getty Images/Hulton Archive)