Winter Storm Hercules: Thousands of Flights Cancelled Due to Snow Storm

Winter Storm Hercules is whopping the East coast and is impacting travel significantly. Millions of Americans are being impacted by flight cancellations throughout the Midwest and Northeast.

According to USA Today, Winter Storm Hercules will bring up to 2 inches of snow per hour in some places and winds will gust up to 50 mph. Some areas in New England may get up to a foot of snow or more. As of 8:30 p.m. on Thursday night, 2,923 flights were cancelled at another 9,103 were delayed, FlightStats.com says.

The most impacted airports are Chicago O'Hare International with 711 cancellations, Newark Liberty International with 401 cancelled flights and 305 cancellations at Boston's Logan International Airport. Major New York airports were also impacted as LaGuardia has 226 cancellations and JFK had 135. Even flights as far west as Los Angeles were cancelled. Boston's Logan airport said no flights will land or take off after 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. The airport will stay open but no flights will run so that the runways can be cleared of snow.

Airlines that are impacted the most are ExpressJet with 455 cancellations, American Eagle with 232 cancellations, Cape Air with 184, United with 154 and JetBlue with 152, FlightStats said.

Driving isn't a better option. Certain roadways are closed off and snow and ice-removal trucks are taking over. However in cities where temperatures will be less than 20 degrees, snow and ice melting chemicals may not be as effective.
Train travel is also being impacted. Amtrak announced that it will have a reduced schedule on Friday due to the storm for Northeast Regional and Acela trains between Boston and Washington D.C.

"I think a lot of transportation companies are being proactive in understanding the disruptive nature of this storm," Christopher Vaccaro, spokesman for the National Weather Service told USA Today. "It's to let you know to stay safe, stay home, and we'll let you know to reschedule another time."

Airlines have already started waiving fees for customers to change their flight plans. Airlines often waive fees in hopes that travelers will simply reschedule their flight instead of cancelling.