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Tonight’s weather update regarding Winter Storm Skylar has much of the New England region battening its hatches back down again for the third time in 11 days.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned residents in Boston and surrounding regions to expect increasingly heavy winter storm conditions beginning around midnight and continuing through most of Tuesday, March 13. Some areas are expected to accumulate snow at a rate of 2 inches per hour, with total snow accumulations up to 12 to 17 inches, with localized amounts of up to 22 inches.
“Damage to trees and power lines are possible due to strong wind gusts,” the NWS said in a publicly posted warning. “Be prepared for significant reductions in visibility at times.” Most schools in the area will be closed tomorrow after the weather report forecast “nearly impossible” commute conditions.
As we reported this morning, Winter Storm Quinn caused more than 2,300 flight cancellations on Wednesday alone of last week. And days before that, a bomb cyclone made its power known throughout the region with damaging winds. Airlines have taken to issuing travel waivers for each of the storms in order to accommodate passengers with flexible plans, and this storm is no different.
By this point, most US airlines have travel waivers in place for travelers with flexible plans, with FlightAware reporting more than 1,500 flights canceled for tomorrow and Wednesday in advance of the impending storm. If you can’t delay your itinerary, airlines aren’t going to be responsible for paying for your meals or hotels in the case of weather-related delays/cancellations. But some top cards have flight delay/cancellation insurance that can reimburse you for weather issues, including the Citi Prestige ($500 per passenger for 3+ hour delay), the Chase Sapphire Reserve ($500 per ticket for 6+ hour or overnight delay) and Chase Sapphire Preferred ($500 per ticket for 12+ hour or overnight delay).
As of 6:15 Monday evening, March 12, here are the travel advisories for Skylar-related changes. Note that American Airlines and JetBlue have expanded the eligible airports as of this evening, and Southwest now allows changes for passengers traveling today, March 12.
Alaska Airlines
American Airlines
- Travel dates: March 13-14
- Airports affected: Albany, New York (ALB); Allentown, Pennsylvania (ABE); Bangor, Maine (BGR); Boston, Massachusetts (BOS); Burlington, Vermont (BTV); Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (MDT); Hartford, Connecticut (BDL); Islip, New York (ISP); Manchester, New Hampshire (MHT); New Haven, Connecticut (HVN); New York Kennedy, New York (JFK); New York LaGuardia, New York (LGA); Newark, New Jersey (EWR); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PHL); Portland, Maine (PWM); Providence, Rhode Island (PVD); State College, Pennsylvania (SCE); Stewart Newburgh, New York (SWF); White Plains/Westchester County, New York (HPN); Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania (AVP)
- Must have purchased your ticket by March 10
- Rebook travel anytime between March 11-17
- You can’t change your origin or destination city. Must rebook in same cabin or pay the difference.
Delta
- Travel dates: March 13-14
- Airports covered: Albany, NY (ALB); Allentown, PA (ABE); Bangor, Maine (BGR); Boston, MA (BOS); Burlington, Vermont (BTV); Hartford, CT (BDL); Manchester, New Hampshire (MHT); New York – Kennedy, NY (JFK); New York – LaGuardia, NY (LGA); Newark, NJ (EWR); Newburgh, NY (SWF); Philadelphia, PA (PHL); Portland, Maine (PWM); Scranton, PA (AVP); Providence, RI (PVD); White Plains, NY (HPN)
- Ticket must be reissued by March 17
- Rebooked travel must begin no later than March 17
- When rescheduled travel occurs beyond March 17, the change fee will be waived. However, a difference in fare may apply.
- Final travel must be completed by end of ticket validity, one year from date of original issue. If travel is not able to be rescheduled within these guidelines, customers may cancel their reservation and apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket for a period of one year from the original ticket issuance. Applicable change fee and fare difference will apply for new travel dates. Final travel must be completed by end of ticket validity.
Frontier
JetBlue
Southwest
Spirit
- Travel dates: March 13
- Airports covered: Boston, MA (BOS); Hartford, CT (BDL)
- Modification charge/fare difference waived through March 17. After this date, the modification charge is waived, by a fare difference may apply.
United
- Travel dates: March 13-14
- Airports covered: Albany, NY (ALB); Allentown, PA (ABE); Bangor, ME (BGR); Boston, MA (BOS); Burlington, VT (BTV); Hartford, CT (BDL); Manchester, NH (MHT); New York/Newark, NJ (EWR); New York-Kennedy, NY (JFK); New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA); Philadelphia, PA (PHL); Portland, ME (PWM); Providence, RI (PVD); White Plains, NY (HPN)
- The change fee and any difference in fare will be waived for new United flights departing on or before March 17, as long as travel is rescheduled in the originally ticketed cabin (any fare class) and between the same cities as originally ticketed.
Virgin America
No waivers at this time from: Hawaiian.
Source: thepointsguy.com