A massive winter storm is impacting flights from Texas, through the Midwest and the entire West Coast – more than a thousand flights have been cancelled Friday at U.S. airports, according to FlightAware.
In the Bay Area cancellations have been limited as of Friday morning; 12 at SFO, one in Oakland and three more in San Jose.
But the numbers are expected to jump dramatically this weekend as that massive winter storm stretches across 2,000 miles, impacting major airports across the country.
A United passenger has been staying on top of the weather and flight plans for her business team in the Bay Area before they return home to Florida.
“I think I’m good so far, no cancellations – but I know a lot of people have been impacted,” said Sharon B. of Florida.
The cancellations and delays were mostly linked to Texas flights as the storm moves east, but airport officials expect the problems to start stacking up on Saturday and Sunday.
“I think a key indicator is cancelling a day or two in advance, so we already have some cancellations happening today – but already for tomorrow we’ve seen 17 flights cancelled,” said Doug Yakel, SFO public information officer.
Yakel recommends all passengers sign up for the airline’s notification systems, where they’ll get messages sent directly to their phones, and can quickly make new plans.
“One of my long layovers was in Dallas, and that’s the one that scared me,” said Rhonda Stevens of Redding.
Stevens is just a short hop from SFO to her home in Redding thanks to the notification app.
She saw weather might delay her trip home from the Caribbean if she went through Dallas, so she quickly called the airline and rerouted around the storm.
“When I called and actually got a human being on the phone, it was wonderful. She helped me out tremendously, and here I am – only one for flight from home,” Stevens said.
Yakel says SFO will keep restaurants open late and provide stranded passengers with blankets, pillows and water.
Outside, he says ground crews will be busy moving stranded aircraft to clear out gate spaces for flights that are not cancelled.
“We’ve seen events in the past where we’ve had to close down a section of a taxiway just to make room for aircraft parking,” Yakel said.
Going.com spokesperson Katy Nastro says many of the major airlines are now offering winter- weather waivers to customers that are worth paying attention to, and taking advantage of.
“That basically state regardless of your ticket type, you’re able to make changes to rebook yourself, without any additional cost and you don’t have to incur a change fee, if you typically would,” Nastro said.
Passengers, flight crews and airport workers are all preparing for these delays and cancellations to last through Monday, when the weather is expected to clear on the East Coast.
