Friday Flight Cancellations Top 3,500, Disrupting Holiday Travel
Winter weather continues to disrupt holiday travel across the United States on Friday, leaving travelers facing delays and cancellations during one of the busiest times of the year. From a report: More than 3,500 Friday flights have already been canceled as of 10 a.m. ET, after nearly 2,700 cancellations on Thursday, according to flight tracking site FlightAware. Cancellations are highest at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, New York's LaGuardia and in Chicago and Detroit, according to FlightAware data. The FAA noted early Friday it may have to halt or restrict traffic at airports in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington areas. Airports in Chicago and Denver saw the bulk of cancellations and delays on Thursday. Chicago O'Hare International Airport was logging average delays Thursday of almost three hours due to snow and ice. An arctic blast and a rapidly intensifying winter storm have come at an unfortunate time for travelers trying to join family and friends for the holidays. Airlines have issued winter weather waivers allowing passengers to rebook at no cost within a limited time period. Find links to the airline waivers and more air travel strategies here. The growing cancellations make it harder for passengers racing against the clock and weather to rebook and arrive in time for Christmas. Flights this year were already more crowded than they've been previously -- even before the storm disrupted travel schedules. "We hear about how travel volume is still down, five or ten percent, but what many folks might not have realized is that the number of flights in the sky is actually down more like 15 or 20 percent," Scott Keyes of Scott's Cheap Flights told CNN. "The planes that are actually flying are more full today than they were pre-pandemic. That's why there's not as many empty seats to switch onto if you do find your flight gets canceled or delayed," Keyes said. Further reading: Intensifying winter storm's icy cold and wind knocks out power to over a million customers.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.