Winter storm disrupts thousands of U.S. flights

Thousands of flights were disrupted Monday as a winter storm moved eastward, snarling air travel in the eastern U.S. By 5:45 p.m. ET, more than 6,900 U.S. flights were delayed while more 2,130 were canceled, according to flight tracker FlightAware. The storm, which was moving from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic, was set to dump as much as a foot of snow in the Washington, D.C., area, though cold weather stretched through the southern U.S., according to federal forecasters. More than 300 flights, or 80% of the day’s schedule, were canceled at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, while about a third of the scheduled flights were canceled at each Washington Dulles International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Each of the major New York-area airports had about 200 flight delays, FlightAware tallies showed, and there were significant slowdowns at other major airports like Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport. United, Southwest, American and other airlines waived change fees and fare differences for travelers affected by the storm. <br/>