One “once in a generation” The storm is complicating the travel plans of millions of Americans this holiday season as frigid temperatures, cold winds and heavy snow sweep across 17 states.
This holiday travel season predicted to be the busiest for airlines since the pandemic began, but the storm is now threatening the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers. Flight cancellations and delays spiked on Thursday as both airlines and airports struggled to cope with the frigid weather.
As of 1 p.m. Thursday, 3,716 flights have been delayed and 1,835 flights cancelled, according to Flight knowledge, a flight data tracking website. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Denver International Airport (DEN) lead the way for the most cancellations and delays, but disruptions pile up at airports across wide areas great of the United States
Nearly 1,000 flights was cancelled for Friday when U.S. airlines eased their schedules ahead of time in anticipation of the storm.
The National Weather Service advised tourists – especially those traveling by car – to change their plans to stay away from the storm, which the agency described as “a dangerous and life-threatening cold snap in the Arctic.” “. The storm affected the Great Plains Thursday morning and is expected to move toward the Midwest, South, and East Coast from Thursday through Friday. Nearly 100 million Americans are under winter storm warnings.
Many major airlines — including alaska airline, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, unified airline, JetBlue, spirit airline and Southwest Airlines — has been offering waivers that, in general, allow customers to make a change to their itinerary without having to pay a change fee or recalculated fares. Exemption dates and airports vary by carrier, but airlines are trying to allow customers to rebook flights to fly before or after the storm.
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In the wake of the storm, Airlines for America – a trade group representing the largest airlines in the US, including American, Delta and United – said it was getting ready to handle travel from Christmas. to the New Year.
Sharon Pinkerton, A4A’s senior vice president of policy, reiterated that hiring more staff and adjusting schedules has largely fixed the operational issues that have plagued airlines over the past year.
Department of Transportation Security Administration also said that it was prepared for a spike in holiday tourism. TSA Administrator David Pekoske added that the organization will strive to extend wait times to 30 minutes or less at security checkpoints at airports across the country.
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