Winter storms across wide swatches of the eastern United States and Canada, as well as a bone-chilling polar vortex, have sparked one of the worst travel weekends in recent history.
More than 10,000 flights in and out of the United States had been cancelled for today (Sunday, Jan. 25) as of 9 a.m. ET. If you figure only 100 people per flight, that’s a million passengers left stranded on a single day. More than 4,000 flights in the US were cancelled on Saturday, and nearly 2,000 have already been kyboshed for tomorrow (Monday).
There are reports of major power outages and bitterly cold temperatures in much of the Eastern U.S., as well as snow and freezing rain. Temperatures have plunged in Eastern Canada, and The Weather Network is advising against travel in southern Ontario as 10-30 cm’s of snow is expected today.
The airline tracking website Flight Aware (www.flightaware.com) says Reagan Airport in Washington D.C. is virtually shut down, while La Guardia Airport in New York City has had 93% of outgoing and incoming flights cancelled.
It’s a little better north of the border, but Canadians and those flying into Canada are still facing massive disruptions. Flight Aware at 9 a.m. Sunday was showing nearly 500 flights (53%) have been cancelled for the day at Toronto Pearson, Canada’s busiest airport. It was reporting roughly 25% of flights cancelled at Ottawa International and 22% at Montreal Trudeau.
Karim Balaa/Unsplash Photo
The website said nearly 1,500 American Airlines flights had been cancelled as of 9 a.m. Sunday (45%), with 1,290 Delta flights cancelled (40%) and 577 Jet Blue flights (a whopping 71%).
For Canada, Flight Aware reported 217 cancelled flights for Air Canada (40%), 168 for Air Canada Jazz (47%) and 56 for Air Canada Rouge (56%). WestJet was showing 79 cancellations (17% of flights) and Porter Airlines 27 cancellations (11%).
Air Canada has travel advisories out for Sunday for 15 destinations, including Boston, New York City Quebec City, Washington D.C. and St. John’s, Newfoundland. There are 24 listed for Monday, including major northeastern U.S. cities and a number in Eastern and Atlantic Canada, including Halifax, Moncton and Charlottetown.
Another 15 Air Canada advisories are already posted for Tuesday (Jan. 27), which means the pain is likely to linger for several more days.
WestJet also has advisories posted for the next few days at a variety of airports in the U.S. and Eastern Canada.
