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Winter weather snarls travel plans

Posted at 3:29 PM, Dec 10, 2013
and last updated 2013-12-10 15:29:53-05

By Aaron Cooper

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Big flakes of wet snow and ice snarled travel across the country Tuesday and hit major airline hubs in the Northeast.

More than 1,044 flight cancellations were reported across the United States as of 12:30 p.m. ET, according to the flight tracking site Flightstats.com.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which was hit by storms in the last few days, led with more than 100 departing flights canceled.

The airports where the snow is currently falling, including New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport and Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport, saw increasing delays and cancellations.

The delays reached more than four hours at LaGuardia and Philadelphia, with the Federal Aviation Administration reporting Newark was experiencing delays averaging five hours and 29 minutes.

US Airways, which operates a hub in Philadelphia, is having a “slow go of it,” but continues to fly “where we can do so safety” according to spokesman Todd Lehmacher. The airline has canceled more than 300 flights for today systemwide, the vast majority for the weather. Twelve flights headed to Philadelphia landed at other airports due to the snow.

On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines and Delta Connection reported 90 cancellations due to weather and subsequent air traffic control delays across the Northeast.

United Airlines has canceled 350 flights today, out of the 4700 scheduled, most were to and from the New York and Washington areas. “If customers are traveling today they can expect some delays and cancellations,” United spokesman Charlie Hobart told CNN.

Southwest Airlines saw 82 cancellations today. Southwest spokeswoman Michelle Agnew said the airline’s operation in Baltimore was hard hit, but they are recovering from the morning delays.

The major airlines all urge passengers to check their websites for the latest information.

Delta, US Airways and many other carriers have relaxed fees for passengers traveling to the impacted cities who want to change their tickets. The rules for each airline are different and can usually be found on the airline’s homepage.

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