Travelers aren’t out of the woods after a massive winter storm dumped snow and ice across the eastern United States over the weekend.
More than 5,000 U.S. flights are canceled for Monday, Jan. 26, and more than 5,400 others are delayed as of 3:30 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
“I absolutely do not think that we’re going to get back to normal today or tomorrow,” said Vikrant Vaze, an associate professor specializing in aviation operations and director of the Master of Engineering Management program at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering.
Airlines are still trying to get back on track after canceling over 15,700 U.S. flights over the weekend, per FlightAware. Aviation analytics company Cirium noted that Sunday saw the most cancellations since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 45% of Sunday’s flights canceled, compared to 1% on a typical day.
Vaze expects recovery to take days, but warned it may take longer for some airlines. Cirium data predicts cancellations to be less than 1% – at 205 departing flights – on Jan. 27 and none by Jan. 28.
“It can vary based on so many factors, and part of the challenge is that this storm is really hitting all the different airlines pretty much, and it’s hitting airports across the country,” he said. “It’s not as simple as saying, ‘Hey, I am in Boston, so I just need to look at how bad Boston is right now, and then I will be able to predict roughly when things get back to normal.’”
Many aircraft and crew were out of place due to weekend cancellations.
“We are focused on safely resuming our flight schedule, including in New York and Boston, our two largest focus cities impacted by the storm,” JetBlue said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Nearly half of JetBlue’s flights were canceled Monday, according to FlightAware. “Given the large number of cancellations, we have added more than 35 extra flights across Monday and Tuesday to help customers with rebooking their travel and are looking for opportunities to add more.”
In an update posted to its website on Jan. 26, American Airlines said five of its nine hubs were “significantly impacted by this large and disruptive storm,” and teams are working around the clock with federal agencies to get operations back to normal.
It’s complicated.
“Think about getting these flights back on track as a series of and statements,” Vaze said. “Say you want to fly a plane. You need to have that plane at the right airport to begin with and you need to have enough time until maintenance is due for that aircraft and you need to have the pilot who is certified to fly that at the same airport and the pilot needs to have enough time available (on the clock) and you need to have all the passengers who maybe were coming from other flights to connect onto this flight to have come there in time.”
“These are all and, which means that even if one of those things breaks down, then you know you don’t go anywhere,” he added. “Everything is connected to everything.”
Some travelers have endured long delays, overnight stays, and hours stuck on planes.
Annie Yuen’s flight was already delayed on Friday – and then a major winter storm began rolling in.
The 23-year-old, who was traveling from Dallas to Guatemala for vacation, said her plane had to wait for a missing passenger. “And then by the time we got out of the gate, we were getting ready to taxi, that’s when the frost started hitting,” she told USA TODAY. “So we had to spend some time de-icing the plane.”
When that was done, passengers were notified that the pilots had timed out. Her original 8:12 p.m. departure time was pushed to 6:40 a.m. American Airlines provided a hotel, but the next morning the snow and additional de-icing kept flyers sitting on the plane for about three–and-a-half hours before they finally took off – “longer than the flight,” Yeun noted.
“After we got out and we got above the clouds, we saw the sun, and it was amazing,” she said. “It felt very reassuring.” Yuen, who works in tech sales, said she was “grateful” to make it to her destination, where the temperature was around 80 degrees.
Airlines began offering travel waivers to help customers last week, to get ahead of the storm. Airlines often start preemptively cancelling flights ahead of bad weather to ensure airplanes and crews are positioned to get things moving as soon as possible after the storm clears.
That’s likely why there were already thousands of flights axed for the weekend, as of Friday. Airlines were slowing their operations to aid in their recovery.
“It’s about keeping the airport, the environment clean and ready, snow removed, and then it’s about having our pilots, our flight attendants and our airplanes all lined up so we can get our customers onboard and move them to where they want to be,” John Laughter, Delta Air Lines’ chief of operations, previously told USA TODAY.
Travelers should monitor airline updates and consider rebooking if possible.
“The network-wide impacts can, in complex ways, affect the itineraries of all different passengers, so just be careful,” Vaze said.
“It’s not simply a matter of whether you are in the heavily affected part of the country or not. It’s more complicated and they may get sort of negatively surprised if weather looks great, but the airline says your flight cannot go because of bad weather,” he added.
Links to airline-specific rebooking policies for this storm are listed below.
Travelers should also research rebooking options and alternative itineraries in advance, and take advantage of airlines’ self-service tools to avoid long lines at airport agent desks or hold times on the phone.
“Speed is going to be critical,” Katy Nastro, a travel expert at Going, told USA TODAY in a statement. “We want those who are flying to make alternative plans much sooner rather than later, so they ensure they get a rebooking that works best for them. There will not be an endless supply of seats to reaccommodate you on … there is no time like the present to give yourself the best odds at a decent rebooking.”
It’s also a good idea to pack extra provisions for potentially long airport waits.
Matas Cenys, head of product at eSim company Saily, recommends bringing extra clothes and extra doses of necessary medication, as well as essentials like charging cables just in case.
Terms vary, but these waivers generally allow travelers to rebook without penalty or get flight credit if they cancel their trips.
Customers can find details, including impacted airports and key dates, on each carrier’s website linked below.
Airlines will automatically rebook customers on another flight if their flight is canceled. Typically, it’s on the same airline, but depending on the reason for the cancellation and carrier, some may be able to rebook on a partner airline.
If a flight is canceled for reasons within the carrier’s control – say, due to staffing or aircraft maintenance – travelers are entitled to a meal if they have to wait more than three hours for the next flight. If they end up stranded overnight, most airlines will also cover hotel and ground transportation if the cancellation was within their control.
Weather is notably outside of airline control.
If a flight is canceled for any reason and travelers choose to no longer fly, Department of Transportation rules require the airline to offer a refund, regardless of ticket type.
Airline-specific information is available on the DOT’s Airline Customer Service Dashboard.
Airlines are required to get customers to their destination, but don’t owe anything else for delays due to weather or anything else outside of their control.
It’s a different story for significant delays due to issues within their control.
All airlines will rebook customers on their same airline for significant delays (typically at least three hours) within their control, but some will also book customers on partner carriers.
Airlines will also cover meals for controllable delays at least three hours long. Most airlines will also cover a hotel stay and ground transportation for overnight delays within their control.
Again, weather is outside of airline control.
Additional details can be found on the DOT dashboard. It’s worth noting that U.S. regulators don’t require cash payments for delays. Also, even when it’s not required, airline customer service representatives may have the power to provide meal vouchers, mileage credit or other compensation for your trouble, on a case-by-case basis.
This story was updated with new information.