WASHINGTON — A major snowstorm is barreling toward the East Coast and residents in New England are preparing for a record-setting blizzard.
The Washington, D.C., area won’t be hit as hard, but the storm is still causing huge headaches for travelers.
As of 8 a.m. Monday, the flight-tracking website FlightAware reports more than 4,000 flights have been canceled Monday and Tuesday, mostly to and from cities north of D.C., such as Newark, New York City and Boston.
Locally, D.C. airports are experiencing wet runways, but overall flying conditions are good. About 100 departing and arriving flights are canceled at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. A couple dozen are also cancelled at Washington Dulles International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
United Airlines, the nation’s second-busiest carrier, announced it was canceling all Tuesday flights at Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Boston’s Logan International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesman Chris Paolino says the airlines don’t want drivers getting stuck on the roads or at the airports.
“This is going to take some time. We’re going to see delays to the Northeast, I would expect, for a few days as a result of this,” Paolino says.
All major airlines are allowing customers whose flights are canceled during the storm to rebook without a penalty. However, CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg says the bad news is passengers must fly by Friday.
“I would assume that if we have a 36- to 72-hour slow down or, in some cases, a shutdown, that rebooking deadline will be extended,” he says.
Greenberg says airlines are preempting cancellations so they can keep the planes and crews where they are until the storm passes, making it easier to resume operations.
Cancellations could have a ripple effect and cause uneven schedules the rest of the week.
“You’re talking up to 36 hours to get back on track for every day that an airport is shut down. We may see this extending to the end of this week,” Greenberg says.
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