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North Texas Airlines Brace For Northeast Blizzard

The snow may be falling hundreds of miles from North Texas, but it's having an impact on North Texas-based airlines and their passengers.

A storm the National Weather Service called "potentially historic" could dump 2 to 3 feet of snow from northern New Jersey to Connecticut by Wednesday.

A blizzard warning was issued for New York and Boston, and the National Weather Service said the massive storm would bring heavy snow and powerful winds starting Monday and into Tuesday.

The impacts of that storm, even before it developed and moved into the area, were already being felt at airports across the country.

According to FlightAware.com, 3,106 flights had been canceled across the country by 5 p.m. CT on Monday. Another 4,964 were delayed, a large majority due to the weather in the northeast.

At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the impact was far less than what New York and New England airports had been seeing in terms of cancelations.

FlightAware showed 34 departing flights and 26 arriving flights canceled out of DFW on Monday. Enough canceled flights to leave some passengers in limbo.

"I flew in from Vegas, trying to get to New York," said Zac Engledow of Brisbane, Australia. "I knew the storm was coming, but I was hoping that it wouldn't."

Engledow watched the departure boards Monday afternoon in a vain attempt to get to Newark Airport, but whether it was Newark, Philadelphia, Boston or New York's LaGuardia, there was little chance of leaving DFW on Monday afternoon. It left business travelers, people trying to get home and travelers heading there on a whim out of luck.

"I just met a random girl at the bar last night and she invited me to New York," Engledow said.

While some tried to beat the storm, others have been watching it for days, like Southwest Airlines meteorologist Myrnda Muehlman.

"Potentially upwards of three and four feet in parts of New York and New England. We're talking a major Nor'Easter," Muehlman said.

And that means major impacts to nine of Southwest's airports.

"We're looking at the three New York airports and six airports in the New England area," said Robert Stacey, superintendent of dispatch at Southwest.

There were nearly 200 flights canceled on Monday, per FlightAware, and Stacey said a little more than 300 were already canceled for Tuesday in addition to another 50 for Wednesday morning. More cancellations may occur depending on how long it takes for airports to get back to normal operations.

"The way we connect passengers and crews throughout our system, the impact will feel more than 10-percent, even though the hard number is a little less," Stacey said of the total number of flights being canceled by the airline.

But for those still trying to get to the northeast, the impact means a change of plans, even ones made just the night before.

"Pretty bad timing," Engledow said. "I don't know, maybe just fly back to L.A. and go home."

American Airlines reported 906 canceled flights on Monday, including American, U.S. Airways and regional partners. Another 1,396 flights have been canceled for Tuesday, according to the airline.

FlightAware shows 49 flights already canceled out of DFW on Tuesday, or five-percent of all departing flights. Fewer flights are being impacted out of Dallas Love Field.

Due to the inclement weather both American and Southwest are allowing passengers to make ticket changes ahead of a major northeast snow storm.

AMERICAN AIRLINES

The Fort Worth based airline is waiving the ticket reissue charge for passengers traveling to the following airports Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday:

Albany, NY (ALB)
Allentown / Bethlehem, PA (ABE)
Baltimore, MD (BWI)
Bangor, ME (BGR)
Boston, MA (BOS)
Burlington, VT (BTV)
Harrisburg, PA (MDT)
Hartford, CT (BDL)
Islip / Long Island/Macarthur, NY (ISP)
Manchester, NH (MHT)
New Haven, CT (HVN)
New York Kennedy, NY (JFK)
New York LaGuardia, NY (LGA)
Newark, NJ (EWR)
Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
Portland, ME (PWM)
Providence, RI (PVD)
Scranton / Wilkes Barre, PA (AVP)
State College University Park, PA (SCE)
Stewart / Newburgh, NY (SWF)
Washington Dulles, VA (IAD)
Washington Reagan Nat'l, DC (DCA)
Westchester County / White Plains, NY (HPN)
Williamsport, PA (IPT)

Call Reservations personnel at 1-800-433-7300 to make ticket changes.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

Dallas based Southwest Airlines is also allowing passengers flying Monday and Tuesday to change their tickets at no additional charge if they are flying in or out of the following cities:

Albany, NY (ALB)
Baltimore, MD (BWI)
Boston, MA (BOS)
Hartford, CT (BDL)
Islip / Long Island/Macarthur, NY (ISP)
Manchester, NH (MHT)
New York LaGuardia, NY (LGA)
Newark, NJ (EWR)
Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
Portland, ME (PWM)
Providence, RI (PVD)
Washington Dulles, VA (IAD)
Washington Reagan Nat'l, DC (DCA)

Call 1-800-435-9792 to speak with a Customer Service Representative.

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