Pre-Christmas 'Inclement Weather' Cancels Hundreds of Flights, Prompts Airline Waiver
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
While the numerous cancellations in London Gatwick (LGW) from the continuing drone issue are getting most of the aviation news attention on Friday, blustery weather is putting a hamper on air travel in the Northeast US.
According to FlightAware's flight cancellation tracker as of 2:30pm Friday, 290 US flights have been cancelled so far for Friday and another 16 flights cancelled already for Saturday. The hardest hit airports are:
- Boston (BOS): 60 cancellations and 279 delays
- Newark (EWR): 53 cancellations and 296 delays
- New York LaGuardia (LGA): 44 cancellations and 552 delays
Only United has issued a travel waiver for the storms -- and it's only valid for Friday flights. However, this could help if you're scheduled to fly to, from or through Newark Friday evening. This waiver will let you change your flight dates or route through another United hub.
- Travel dates: December 21
- Covered airports: New York/Newark, NJ (EWR); New York-Kennedy, NY (JFK); New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA); White Plains, NY (HPN)
- The change fee and any difference in fare will be waived for new United flights departing on or before December 24, as long as travel is rescheduled in the originally ticketed cabin (any fare class) and between the same cities as originally ticketed.
Protect Your Travels
As we move deeper into winter, these storms are another reminder to book flights with a card that offers solid trip delay and cancellation insurance. I’m using my Chase Sapphire Reserve to book all of my flights to get 3x earnings on the airfare purchase plus solid trip protection benefits that kick in when a weather delay or cancellation stretches past six hours. Another top choice for getting solid mileage earning and trip protection when booking flights is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
