A massive winter storm immobilized airports across the eastern half of the country over the weekend, causing the single-worst day of flight cancellations Sunday since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Airlines canceled more than 11,600 flights in the U.S. on Sunday alone, according to data from FlightAware – almost triple the worst day of disruptions during the extended government shutdown last November, when airlines were eventually forced by the federal government to cut flights due to air traffic control shortages. It's second only to one day in late March 2020, according to data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium, when airlines canceled over 12,000 flights in a single day as the emerging pandemic brought travel to a screeching halt, forcing carriers to rapidly cut back.
Disruptions will extend into Monday as Winter Storm Fern hovers over the East Coast. By Monday morning, airlines had already canceled nearly 3,900 flights and counting, according to FlightAware.
While the problems could linger or even snowball as the week drags on, major U.S. airlines proactively canceled hundreds (if not thousands) of flights over the weekend, ensuring that planes and crews were in position and ready to resume normal operating schedules once the winter weather passes. That's a key element of why delays and cancellations often continue days after a storm has passed – after trying to fly through it, they simply can't catch up.
Still, it was a brutal weekend for more than half the country – some more than others.
With snow and ice blanketing its Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) hub as well as Philadelphia (PHL) and Charlotte (CLT), American Airlines canceled nearly 60% of its flights nationwide for the day on Sunday. Delta's Atlanta (ATL) stronghold didn't fare much better, with nearly 1,200 flights in and out also scrapped on Sunday. And then there was Washington, D.C.-Reagan (DCA), which canceled more than 98% of inbound and outbound flights.
While the outlook is better for travelers heading out the rest of the week, it still pays to be prepared. Here's what to keep in mind if you're heading to the airport anytime soon.
Watch Your Flights (& The News) Like a Hawk
Monday travel is iffy at best, and there's no telling what'll happen with flights later this week.
So watch the news, monitor headlines, and stay tuned. If you're flying anytime soon, you need to be extra vigilant.
Monitor Your Airline & Track Your Flight
Got a flight coming up? Changes can happen in the blink of an eye. It pays to be vigilant.
Start by monitoring FlightAware's daily dashboard of delays and cancellations. As you're getting ready for your trip, scope out your airline in the days leading up to departure for potential warning signs. If you're flying this Wednesday and your airline has canceled hundreds of flights on both Monday and again on Tuesday … well, prepare for ongoing issues.
But on the day of, you need a tool to track your actual flight. Unfortunately, airlines don't always do the best job of letting customers know when they've made a change. If any app is tailor-made for that job, it's Flighty.
Flighty tracks the status of your upcoming flights better than even your airline will. After years of delays and cancellations, our team has lost track of how many times we've gotten alerts from Flighty about a schedule change or cancellation 30 minutes, if not hours, before getting the heads up from the airline … if the carrier even notified us at all. It's the most powerful tool we've found to keep tabs on your flights, bar none.
You'll get instant push alerts about any schedule changes, delays, or cancellations to any flights in your queue. When it comes to air travel, information is power … and no app gives you more information than Flighty.
Flighty starts out free, giving you some useful but limited information about your upcoming flights. But the real power comes with Flighty Pro, which gives you by-the-second updates on changes to your flights.
At $3.99 a month or $47.99 a year, it's not exactly cheap … but potentially invaluable for anxious travelers who want to stay informed. And if you're a frequent traveler, we think you'll find this subscription is well worth it.
Read more: Why the Flighty Pro App is a Must-Have Travel Tool
While you should watch your inbox, airlines don't always automatically notify customers when they've made a change to flights. These tools can help you get the news faster.
Know Your Rights, Get a Refund & Watch for Waivers
In the U.S., air travelers just don't have many rights. But one is tailor-made for this moment.
If an airline cancels or significantly delays your flight, you can scrap the reservation for a full refund – not just an airline credit that may expire in a few months, but your money back.
And it doesn't matter whether your flight was disrupted due to bad weather, air traffic control shortages, or an airline issue. If the flight gets canceled, you can get a refund and start over.
Flight not canceled, but continually getting pushed back? The cutoff to trigger a refund is a delay of more than three hours for a domestic flight, or six hours for an international flight.
Read more: Airlines Must Now Give Automatic Refunds for Flight Delays, Cancellations
As the forecast suggested a massive storm would snarl travel last week, airlines began issuing waivers that allow passengers to change their flights by up to a week or more without paying fees or fare differences. For example, Delta issued a slew of waivers covering almost 100 airports up and down the East Coast, allowing customers with travel plans Monday – and in some cases, Tuesday – to push their flight back later this week without additional fees or fare penalties.
Beyond that, don't expect airlines to help you out if you're caught in the mess.
Disruptions caused by bad weather are typically deemed “uncontrollable.” Unlike controllable delays or cancellations caused by maintenance or airline crew issues, carriers aren't obligated to provide meal or hotel vouchers to passengers stuck for hours, even overnight.
That's where travel insurance – or a good travel credit card with built-in coverage – can be a lifesaver.
Check Your Travel Insurance (Or Credit Card)
Preparing for the worst all starts from the time you buy your tickets.
Maybe you bought a travel insurance policy – that might help cover some of your additional costs if plans change. But what about the trip delay and cancellation coverage that comes with top-tier travel rewards credit cards?
Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offer some of the best travel protections of any cards on the market. On the Preferred Card, for example, you get:
- Up to $500 in reimbursements for expenses like airfare, hotels, meals, etc., in the event of a delay of 12 or more hours.
- Up to $100 a day for five days if your checked baggage is delayed more than six hours.
- Unbeatable coverage for rental cars
- And more…
Regardless, you'll need to read the fine print to determine exactly what you'll be covered for … and what you might not be. Trust us: It's better to know what you're entitled to beforehand. Do it now.
Read more on the best credit cards for travel insurance!
Exhaust Your Options to Reach Your Airline
When things go wrong, don't just stand in a long line to speak with a gate agent or employees at check-in. It's time to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Airlines are staffed by thousands of people who could help you – and not just those at the airport.
Give these options a shot:
- Grab your phone and call your airline while you stand in line.
- If you've got a credit card with airport lounge access, head to the Delta Sky Club or American Admirals Club and see if a lounge agent can help you.
- Fire up the site formerly known as Twitter and slide into your airlines' DMs. Or message Delta through your phone!
Read up on other ways to reach Delta amid hours-long call wait times!
Reaching an employee to help you can be the most stressful part of the situation when things go wrong. Getting as many irons in the fire as you can is crucial. You never know which method will pay off first.
You've Got to Be Kind
This is hard, we know. But when things go wrong in air travel, we have a mantra:
“It's not the check-in agent's fault. It's not your TSA agent's fault. It's not your flight attendant's fault. And it's not the customer support agent on the phone's fault, either.”
As frustrating as delays and cancellations can be, don't take it out on front-line employees. In many cases, they're under just as much stress as you are, trying to help hundreds of fellow travelers – not to mention working long hours trying to keep the airline moving.
Kindness is a superpower in these situations. These employees often have enormous power to help you out … and they're far more likely to do so when you're genuinely nice.
Bottom Line
It was a brutal, nearly record-setting weekend in air travel as airlines canceled more than 11,000 flights in a single day on Sunday.
Monday should be better … but still quite bad. From there, we can only hope that airlines can get back on track on Tuesday and onward as the winter storm passes.
