Airlines preemptively cancel Saturday flights ahead of winter storm
For the second straight week, millions of Americans will have to contend with a major winter storm — and mass travel woes at airports.
Airlines preemptively slashed hundreds of flights for Saturday, as the National Weather Service predicted a significant snow event would affect a large portion of the East Coast.
By 2:15 p.m. EST Friday, nearly 840 flights planned for Saturday had been canceled, according to data from FlightAware.
Delta Air Lines led the way with 384 shuttered flights across its operation. Southwest Airlines slashed more than 110 flights for Saturday.
The disruptions figured to have a major impact at Delta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) mega-hub, where 30% of all departures for Saturday had been scrapped.
Other airports already seeing cancellations in droves for the weekend: Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).
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Many more cancellations are likely: United Airlines and American Airlines had not yet announced preemptive cancellations for the weekend, as of early afternoon.
American’s second-busiest hub, Charlotte, was on track to be squarely in the path of the winter storm.
For American, this latest winter blast could hardly come at a worst time. The carrier only just got operations back on track after last weekend’s significant storm caused major disruptions at more than half of its hubs — and led to days of operational trouble, well after other airlines recovered.
Airlines quickly issued travel advisories for this weekend’s storm, named “Gianna” by The Weather Channel. These waivers should allow passengers to easily make ticket changes, even when booked on a restrictive basic economy ticket.
Travelers booked with trips booked for the next couple of days should keep a close eye on the forecast at their departure, connecting and destination airports — and consider making itinerary changes.
Keep in mind, with a winter storm as significant as what forecasters have modeled, it’s likely flight disruptions could affect a large swath of the country, since airlines’ networks are interconnected.
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