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 Read more
Canada
Winter Storms Wreaking Havoc on Travel in Eastern USA and Canada; More Than 15,000 Flights Cancelled
Bloomberg recently came out with nice recommendations on great places to travel in 2026. Among their suggestions were Taipei, Corsica, Lake Louise, San Francisco and Scotland. I’m a big fan of Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean I visited back in 2009. The food (especially the wine, cheese and seafood) is quite good, the coastline magical, and the surprisingly rugged mountains great for hiking. Bloomberg noted a growth in new boutique hotels and called the island “the perfect blend between private luxury and uncrowded, European summer bliss.” Notwithstanding those comments, I’d aim for a visit in late April or Read more
Canadians have a fever, and the only cure is more travel. A new Flight Centre Canada report finds that 82% of Canadians feel vacations are not a luxury, but are instead essential to their health and wellbeing. Nearly seven in ten (69%) says doctors should be able to prescribe vacations to give them a needed break from work and everyday stress. (I like this. Instead of “take two Tylenol and call me in the morning,” it would be “take two weeks at the beach and don’t call a soul.”) The report also finds that 87% of Canadians would rather take Read more
If you’re flying in or out of Toronto today, good luck. With heavy snow falling in southern Ontario, Flight Aware at 3 p.m. (Thursday, Jan. 15) was reporting more than 250 cancelled flights at Toronto Pearson Airport/YYZ, as well as more than 300 delays. That rate of cancellation is roughly one quarter of all flights in and out of YYZ. It was reporting 42 cancellations at Montreal Trudeau Airport at 3 p.m., 21 for Ottawa International and 18 at Toronto City Centre/Billy Bishop airport on the waterfront (YTZ). Even if you count only 100 passengers on a flight, 250 cancelled Read more
According to travel app Skyscanner’s latest research, while 66% of Canadians are planning to head abroad in 2026, only 48% have taken the plunge and booked their flights. Destination indecision and concerns over cost are reported as the biggest booking barriers, as nearly half (45%) share they are still deciding on destination, and 43% are still trying to find the best deals. Canadian travellers’ perception of flight pricing in 2026 is not the reality of the great value deals on offer. While 69% of Canadians think their round-trip flights are going to cost more than $500 this year, Read more
