Signage outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is caked in snow after a blizzard struck overnight on November 27, 2019 in Bloomington, Minnesota. Snowfalls neared 12 inches in parts of the state on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Stephen Maturen | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Air travelers faced hours-long delays at some northeastern airports as a winter storm approached at the end of Thanksgiving weekend.
The storm was approaching the Northeast on Sunday, packing high winds, snow, ice and rain and expected to last until at least Monday evening, according to federal forecasters.
The disruptions coincide with what trade group Airlines for America expects to be the busiest day of the year for the airline industry, with 3.1 million passengers. Airlines are expected to carry a record 31.6 million travelers during the 12 days around Thanksgiving, a nearly 4% increase from last year.
American Airlines waived date change-fees for travelers booked to fly on Dec. 1 or Dec. 2 to or from more than 30 airports in the Northeast, including LaGuardia, Kennedy, Newark, Philadelphia and Boston, if travelers can fly as late as Dec. 5. Travelers can also cancel their trips without paying a fee. Delta, JetBlue and United issued similar waivers for travelers.
Close to 160 flights in and out of Newark were delayed as of midday Sunday and 56 were cancelled, about 11% of the schedule according to flight-tracking site Flightaware.com. Delays into the New Jersey airport topped two hours and one hour into LaGuardia, the Federal Aviation Administration said.