Flights Resume Following Winter Storm, But Expect Delays

Flight operations are beginning to resume at airports in the northeastern United States and New England after Winter Storm Grayson brought high wind, snow and coastal flooding to the region, but residual flight delays are expected to continue.

Flight operations resumed at JFK Airport in New York City as of 7 a.m. Friday. At LaGuardia, flights resumed Thursday evening, and there will also be free Q70 LaGuardia Link Bus Service to the airport Friday, January 5, and Saturday, January 6, in order to encourage customers to use mass transit when traveling to and from the airport. There will be a significant increase in passenger volumes as airlines resume flights.

Flights are also operating out of Boston’s Logan International Airport, where the storm brought major coastal flooding Thursday. The Weather Channel reports that the airport experienced a rarely seen low visibility in a snow event of one-sixteenth of a mile, and also saw 13.4 inches of snow on Thursday. Tide levels in Boston Harbor neared an all-time record set in 1978, flooding out the Long Wharf and the neighborhood of Fort Point. An area ranging along the east- and north-facing shores of Massachusetts also experienced flooding. All told, it was one of the most intense Atlantic winter storms in decades, bringing blizzard conditions and whiteouts across and area ranging from Maine to Virginia.

Flight Waivers

A number of airlines are still offering flight waivers due to travel disruptions caused by the storm.

American Airlines will allow customers flying through affected airports in the northeast through January 6 to rebook through January 12 between the same city pair in the same cabin (or pay the difference).

On Delta, which cancelled an additional 200 flights Thursday as a result of the storm, customers flying through January 6 can rebook through January 12, with the new ticket to be reissued on or before that date.

United Airlines is allowing customers set to fly through January 5 to rebook through January 8 in the originally ticketed cabin and between the same city pair.

Customers on Southwest Airlines can rebook in the original class of service or travel standby within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city pairs.

Finally, JetBlue is allowing customers flying January 5 to rebook through January 11, while Frontier Airlines said that customers scheduled to fly through January 6 can rebook through January 24.

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