Winter storm cancels, delays thousands of flights, disrupting holiday travel

Thousands of flights have been disrupted on Thursday as the U.S. braces for a winter storm that’s expected to hit a large swath of the country. 

It also happens to be one of the busiest travel days of the season. 

More than 370 flights in, out of and across the U.S. have been delayed as of 1 a.m. ET on Friday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Nearly 2,562 have been canceled, the data shows. 

On Thursday, more than 10,028 flights in, out of and across the U.S. were delayed and nearly 2,539 were canceled.

Southwest Airlines had the most disruptions of the major U.S. carriers, with 22% of its flights canceled and another 44% delayed as of Midnight.

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On Wednesday, FlightAware reported more than 8,100 delayed flights.

Travelers arrive for flights at O’Hare International Airport on Dec. 16, 2022, in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Roughly 54 million passengers are expected to depart from U.S airports over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period. Thursday and Friday are projected to be the busiest travel days of the year-end holiday period, with 3.34 million passengers scheduled to fly out each day, according to travel app Hopper. 

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Forecasters have predicted that the bad weather consisting of heavy snow, ice, flood and powerful winds, is expected to hit various parts of the U.S. from the Plains and Midwest to the East Coast, as soon as Thursday. It’s expected to last through Saturday with a surge of Arctic air to follow.

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Southwest, American, United and Delta Air Lines already issued travel waivers for various parts of the country in case a traveler’s flight is disrupted. This means the change fee and any difference in fare for certain flights impacted by bad weather are waived by the airline. 

A family passes a Christmas tree while checking their bags for a flight at Logan International Airport, Monday, Nov. 21, 2022, in Boston.  (AP Photo/Charles Krupa / AP Newsroom)

FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs said the 2021 travel season has the highest amount of cancelations, over 5%, in the past decade. That was “due in part to bad weather, including a big pacific-northwest storm – but mainly due to high airline and airport worker absenteeism from the widespread COVID-19 omicron variant,” she said. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.