US: More than 1,500 flights already cancelled through Tuesday

Airlines have preemptively canceled more than 725 flights for Monday and another 815 for Tuesday as a late-season snowstorm threatened to make a mess of air travel this week. Unfortunately for fliers, those tallies were likely to soar. Already, Southwest said it expected to ground nearly all of its flights in the Northeast on Tuesday. Other airlines may make similar decisions with blizzard conditions forecast to hit New York City's airports and heavy snow expected across much of the region. All big US airlines have waived change fees to customers ticketed to fly to airports in the storm’s path. The details varied by carrier, though they generally allowed customers to make one change to their tickets without paying change fees that typically cost $200 or more. The preemptive cancellations and weather waivers come as the storm was expected to hit its peak in the Northeast on Tuesday. Snow was also forecast in Chicago, where flights were already being disrupted. But the worst weather-related problems were expected at airports serving New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Baltimore. All were likely to see major schedule disruptions if forecasts are accurate. Dozens of smaller airports in the region also could be affected, with some possibly struggling to remain open if snowfall totals of 12 to 18 inches pile up across the region. Nationwide, carriers had grounded 665 flights for Monday as of 8:45p.m. ET on Sunday, according to FlightAware. For Tuesday, 815 flights had already been scrapped by Sunday evening.<br/>