[ad_1]
washington [US]Dec. 23 (ANI): More than 2,270 U.S. flights were canceled on Thursday (local time) due to heavy snow and freezing temperatures ahead of the Christmas holiday, CNN reported.
Snow, rain, ice, wind and frigid temperatures are disrupting air travel plans as well as bus and Amtrak passenger train service across the United States.
As of 6 p.m. ET Thursday, airlines canceled more than 2,270 U.S. flights and voluntarily canceled nearly 1,000 flights on Friday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.
Eighty-five flights were canceled on Saturday. Thursday’s delays were even worse: more than 7,400 by 6 p.m., according to CNN.
Chicago and Denver were hardest hit, canceling about a quarter of inbound and outbound flights on Thursday — hundreds of flights at each airport, according to FlightAware data.
At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Thursday, ice and snow delayed an average of 159 minutes — nearly three hours, according to a notice from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The temperature in O’Hare dropped to 9 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 degrees Celsius) around 5 p.m. local time. The National Weather Service is reporting snow and freezing fog.
According to CNN, the FAA said that aircraft departing from Dallas Love Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Denver Airport and Minneapolis Airport need to be sprayed with deicing fluid to ensure flight safety.
Meanwhile, many airlines have issued weather waivers, allowing travelers to change their itineraries at short notice without penalty.
For those passengers who still plan to take off, the TSA is advising passengers to arrive at the airport earlier than usual, according to CNN.
It’s not just flights that are affected by the bomb cyclone. Greyhound issued a service alert on Thursday, warning customers traveling in the Midwest over the next two days may delay or cancel trips entirely.
Greyhound, the largest provider of intercity bus service, listed more than a dozen cities from West Virginia to Minnesota as affected, according to CNN.
Amtrak has also been forced to delay or cancel passenger service on some lines in the Midwest and Northeast.
In its notice, Amtrak said that “customers who book trains that are being refitted will often be placed on trains that depart at similar or alternate days,” according to CNN.
“Amtrak will waive the additional fee for customers who wish to change their reservations during the revised schedule by calling our Reservations Center at 1-800-USA-RAIL,” it further reported. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
[ad_2]
Source link