Latest Storm Blamed for 4,000+ Cancellations

Contributing Editor Carl Unger believes that every trip is worth taking. He loves an extended trip to Europe as much as he enjoys exploring the towns and landscape near home. Basically, you'll find him wherever there is good food, fresh air, and plenty of stories to bring home.

Carl has been writing for SmarterTravel since 2005. His travel writing has also appeared on USA Today and the About.com Boston travel guide.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: "It's not revolutionary, but a small Moleskine notebook is my one travel must-have. It's great for noting things you want to remember and it takes up hardly any space in your bag."

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: "Japan. I'd love to take a month off and visit the cities, temples, and countryside. I'm fascinated by the country's juxtaposition of ancient traditions and modern ambitions."

Travel Motto: “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” –Terry Pratchett

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: "Window."

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The latest storm to slam the Northeast is being blamed for over 4,000 flight cancellations, reports USA Today‘s Ben Mutzabaugh. “Flight schedules were a mess for a second straight day in the Northeast,” Mutzabaugh writes, “with more than 4,400 cancellations now blamed on the fifth major winter storm to hit the region in as many weeks.” Cancellations impacted far-off airports as well, including some on the West Coast and Europe, where flights bound for the Northeast or dependent on aircraft coming from the region were scrapped.

Delays and cancellations have stretched well into today, as well. As of 4:10 p.m., FlightAware.com was reporting delays of four hours and 17 minutes at JFK, and delays of just over two hours at Newark and Philadelphia. Both JFK and Newark were shut down from around midnight last night until mid-morning today. Washington, D.C., and Boston were showing normal operations.

With nearly a half-dozen significant winter storms in the books, it’s safe to say January hasn’t been a good month for travelers. Over 15,000 flights have been canceled this month due to wintry weather, mostly into and out of the Northeast, but also at Southeast and Mid-Atlantic hubs such as Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Fortunately, we haven’t seen the prolonged rebooking hassles passengers encountered following the Christmas storm. Travelers should expect relatively normal operations by tomorrow, and certainly by the weekend.

Readers, were you supposed to fly during any of January’s major storms? If so, did you make it off the ground?

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