US airlines cancel thousands of flights as 2,000-mile winter storm nears

Businessinsider reports US airlines are canceling thousands of flights this weekend as a major winter storm moves eastward, stretching roughly 2,000 miles from New Mexico to Maine and threatening almost 180 million people, the National Weather Service said. The NWS said early Saturday that much of the south-central US was already feeling the effects and the system would continue east through Sunday, with major metros in its path including Dallas, Austin, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.

Delta said it was canceling flights at airports in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee and was adjusting staffing and deploying cold‑weather specialists to support deicing and ground operations at airports such as Atlanta, Birmingham, Huntsville, Knoxville, and Nashville; the carrier added in a post on social media, "We encourage customers in affected areas to move their flights at no charge to before or after the storm." American said it is waiving rebooking fees for travelers flying to or from eligible airports on select dates and was adding extra flights, while Southwest is offering free rebooking at 46 airports for travel between January 23 and January 26, United dropped rebooking fees at 35 airports for customers traveling January 24 to January 26, and JetBlue is waiving fees for travelers at 15 affected airports over the same period.

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Business, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Jetblue