Winter Storm Diego to Cause Massive Travel Disruptions This Weekend, 5 Airlines Issue Waivers
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Winter weather is set to wreak havoc on travel across much of the country — nearly from coast to coast. Winter Storm Diego is set to bring snow, sleet and freezing rain from parts of the Southern Plains of as far west as New Mexico to the Southeast.
The storm will extend into early next week for parts of the Southeast, which will get the largest amounts of snow and ice as the storm moves eastward. Winter weather advisories have been issued by the National Weather Service for portions of New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle, as well as southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, according to the Weather Channel. Winter storm watches are in effect from New Mexico to Texas and Oklahoma. In addition, much of the Southeast is under a winter storm watch.
To visualize how large of a swath of the country the storms are covering, each of the below airport has at least one waiver in place between Friday and Dec. 10.
Remember, if you can’t delay your itinerary, airlines aren’t going to be responsible for paying for your meals or hotels in the case of weather-related delays/cancellations. But some top cards have flight delay/cancellation insurance that will reimburse you for weather issues, including the Citi Prestige ($500 per passenger for 3+ hour delay), the Chase Sapphire Reserve ($500 per ticket for 6+ hour or overnight delay) and Chase Sapphire Preferred ($500 per ticket for 12+ hour or overnight delay).
As of 12pm ET Friday, here are the travel waivers covering this storm:
American Airlines
Southeastern US Severe Weather
- Travel date: December 9-10
- Airports affected: Asheville, North Carolina (AVL); Bristol/Johnson City/Kingsport, Tennessee (TRI); Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT); Greensboro/High Point, North Carolina (GSO); Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina (GSP); Knoxville, Tennessee (TYS); Lynchburg, Virginia (LYH); Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina (RDU); Roanoke, Virginia (ROA)
- Must have purchased your ticket by December 6
- Rebook travel anytime between December 6-15
- You can’t change your origin or destination city. Must rebook in same cabin or pay the difference.
Winter Storm Diego
- Travel date: December 7-8
- Airports affected: Amarillo, Texas (AMA); Fort Smith, Arkansas (FSM); Joplin, Missouri (JLN); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (OKC); Springfield/Branson, Missouri (SGF); Stillwater, Oklahoma (SWO); Tulsa, Oklahoma (TUL); Northwest Arkansas/Bentonville, Arkansas (XNA)
- Must have purchased your ticket by December 6
- Rebook travel anytime between December 6-11
- You can’t change your origin or destination city. Must rebook in same cabin or pay the difference.
Delta
Southeastern US Winter Weather
- Travel dates: December 9-10
- Airports covered: Asheville, NC (AVL); Charlotte, NC (CLT); Greensboro, NC (GSO); Greenville-Spartanburg, SC (GSP); Knoxville, TN (TYS); Raleigh-Durham, NC (RDU); Roanoke, VA (ROA); Tri-Cities, TN (TRI)
- Ticket must be reissued on or before: December 15
- Rebooked travel must begin no later than: December 15
- When rescheduled travel occurs beyond December 15, the change fee will be waived. However, a difference in fare may apply. Final travel must be completed by end of ticket validity, one year from date of original issue.
- If travel is not able to be rescheduled within these guidelines, customers may cancel their reservation and apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket for a period of one year from the original ticket issuance. Applicable change fee and fare difference will apply for new travel dates.
Southern Plains Winter Weather
- Travel dates: December 8
- Airports covered: Fayetteville, AR (XNA); Fort Smith, AR (FSM); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (OKC); Springfield, MO (SGF); Tulsa, OK (TUL)
- Ticket must be reissued on or before: December 11
- Rebooked travel must begin no later than: December 11
- When rescheduled travel occurs beyond December 11, the change fee will be waived. However, a difference in fare may apply. Final travel must be completed by end of ticket validity, one year from date of original issue.
- If travel is not able to be rescheduled within these guidelines, customers may cancel their reservation and apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket for a period of one year from the original ticket issuance. Applicable change fee and fare difference will apply for new travel dates.
Frontier
Winter Weather System
- Travel dates: December 7-8
- Airports covered: Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX (DFW); Oklahoma City, OK (OKC); Tulsa, OK (TUL); Little Rock, AR (LIT); Wichita, KS (ICT)
- Must have purchased ticket by December 6
- Rebooked travel must be completed no later than: December 15
- Customers who are ticketed to travel on December 7 or 8 who purchased tickets on or before December 6 may make one itinerary change — rules/restrictions regarding standard change fees, advance purchase, day or time applications, blackouts and minimum or maximum stay requirements will be waived.
Winter Storm Diego
- Travel dates: December 8-9
- Airports covered: Memphis, TN (MEM); Nashville, TN (BNA); Knoxville, TN (TYS); Greenville/Spartanburg, SC (GSP); Charlotte, NC (CLT); Raleigh/Durham, NC (RDU)
- Must have purchased ticket by December 7
- Rebooked travel must be completed no later than: December 15
- Customers who are ticketed to travel on December 8 or 9 who purchased tickets on or before December 7 may make one itinerary change — rules/restrictions regarding standard change fees, advance purchase, day or time applications, blackouts and minimum or maximum stay requirements will be waived.
Southwest
Winter Storm Diego
- Travel date: December 6-8
- Airport covered: Albuquerque (ABQ); Amarillo (AMA); Lubbock (LBB); Oklahoma City (OKC); Tulsa (TUL)
- Customers who are holding reservations for December 6-8 and want to alter their travel plans may rebook in the original class of service or travel standby (within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city-pairs and in accordance with [Southwest’s] accommodation procedures) without paying any additional charge.
- Travel date: December 8-9
- Airport covered: Little Rock (LIT); Memphis (MEM); Nashville (BNA)
- Customers who are holding reservations for December 8-9 and want to alter their travel plans may rebook in the original class of service or travel standby (within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city-pairs and in accordance with [Southwest’s] accommodation procedures) without paying any additional charge.
- Travel date: December 8-10
- Airport covered: Charlotte (CLT); Greenville-Spartanburg (GSP); Raleigh-Durham (RDU)
- Customers who are holding reservations for December 8-10 and want to alter their travel plans may rebook in the original class of service or travel standby (within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city-pairs and in accordance with [Southwest’s] accommodation procedures) without paying any additional charge.
United
- Travel date: December 7-8
- Airports covered: Albuquerque, NM (ABQ); Amarillo, TX (AMA); Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX (DFW); Fayetteville, AR (XNA); Liberal, KS (LBL); Little Rock, AR (LIT); Lubbock, TX (LBB); Oklahoma City, OK (OKC); Santa Fe, NM (SAF); Springfield, MO (SGF); Tulsa, OK (TUL); Wichita, KS (ICT)
- The change fee and any difference in fare will be waived for new United flights departing on or before December 11, as long as travel is rescheduled in the originally ticketed cabin (any fare class) and between the same cities as originally ticketed.
No waivers (yet) from: Alaska, JetBlue, Spirit.
