News

Actions

East Coast snowstorm: Hundreds of flights already canceled

Posted at 3:44 PM, Jan 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-21 15:44:55-05

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — American Airlines is canceling the bulk of its flights in the Northeast ahead of the storm.  Snow, ice and strong winds will all cause problems for fliers.

At its Charlotte hub, all 654 American flights are canceled for Friday. The airline will not keep any jets there overnight, with plans to resume flights to Charlotte on Saturday morning.

The three Washington and Baltimore area airports will see flight cancelations starting Friday afternoon with all flights canceled there Saturday.

New York’s three airports will see all Saturday afternoon American flights canceled with flights resuming on Sunday.

The only good news for fliers: Saturday is the slowest travel day of the week. There are a little more than 22,000 flights scheduled to, from or within the U.S., according to flight tracking service FlightAware. That’s about 5,000 fewer flights — and 400,000 fewer passengers — than on Thursday or Friday.

All major airlines have issued waivers for travel over the weekend, allowing passengers to rebook onto earlier or later flights to avoid the storms.