US: Hundreds of flights cancelled and more than 5,000 delayed in winter storm

A big winter storm packing high wind, ice and heavy snow caused major disruptions for travellers returning from the Thanksgiving holiday at airports across the United States. The storm was threatening to dump more than a foot of snow on upstate New York and parts of New England on Monday. New York City could get up to 3 inches and Boston could get up to 6, according to federal forecasters. As of Monday evening, 814 flights were cancelled and more than 6,200 were delayed, according to flight-tracking website Flightaware.com, with disruptions worsening throughout the day. Some arriving flights into New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Boston Logan International Airport were delayed two hours and more than three hours into Newark Liberty International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Newark was the hardest hit by cancellations with more than 13% of its schedule, or 190 flights, while more than a quarter of Newark and LaGuardia’s flights were delayed. The disruptions come on top of more than 950 cancellations, ranging from Boston to San Francisco, on Sunday due to stormy weather. Some 8,400 flights were delayed across the US Sunday. American Airlines waived date change-fees for travellers booked to fly on Monday and Tuesday to or from more than 30 airports in the Northeast, including LaGuardia, Kennedy, Newark, Philadelphia and Boston, if travellers can fly as late as Sunday. Travellers can also cancel their trips without paying a fee. Delta, JetBlue and United issued similar waivers for travellers.<br/>