U.S. Flights Face Delays Due to Storms, More Security

Christmas weekend air traffic is experiencing delays of 15 to 90 minutes, some major U.S. airlines and the government said, due to far-flung winter storms and an alleged terrorist attack on a trans-Atlantic flight.
Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines are waiving some flight-change fees for passengers in areas affected by bad weather hitting the U.S. Midwest and New England. Airlines are also managing tightened security protocols following the alleged attack on a Northwest Airlines flight en route to Detroit on Dec. 25 from Amsterdam.

Air Canada and its regional airline, Jazz, said they will cancel some flights to the U.S. starting today because of “protracted waits for customer security clearance” at Canadian airports. “Select short-haul flights” will be canceled, mainly between Toronto and northeastern U.S. cities served by multiple daily flights, they said in a statement.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian man, was charged with trying to destroy the plane by attempting to detonate an explosive device. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said yesterday passengers on planes to the U.S. will have to remain seated for the last hour of their flights and won’t be allowed to get anything from carry-on bags during that time or to keep anything in their laps. It said passengers also may notice other “unpredictable” security protocols.

Disruptive Passenger

A disruptive passenger on a Northwest flight to Detroit today from Amsterdam was taken into custody after the plane landed, according to a spokeswoman for parent company Delta. She said the flight crew asked law enforcement officers to meet the plane when it landed “out of an abundance of caution.” The plane landed without incident.

United Airlines said the new security measures may affect its flights from Europe to the U.S., with delays anywhere between 20 and 90 minutes. It said in a recorded call today that passengers entering the U.S. should expect check-in delays.

Snow showers, which caused more than 50 flights to be canceled at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport yesterday, were expected to move east, according to the Weather.com Web site today.

Delta is experiencing “minimal delays and minimal cancellations” and is running on a full schedule, spokeswoman Susan Elliott said in a telephone interview.

“We’re watching some weather in Boston” and isolated snow showers in the Midwest, Elliott said. “Other than that, the operation is running smoothly.”

Newark Delays

Most air traffic is experiencing delays of 15 minutes or less, the Federal Aviation Administration said on its Web site. Due to weather and wind conditions, the FAA instituted a traffic management program today for flights at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport. Some flights were being delayed an average of 44 minutes, the agency said. No destination- specific delays were reported.

United planned to operate a full schedule today with flights about 92 percent full as it recovers from “greater than expected” snowfall in Chicago, according to a recorded call. The airline has scheduled extra flights in the mountain region. Calls to Continental Airlines Inc. and American Airlines Inc. weren’t immediately returned.

Up to 12 inches of snow may fall from northeast Ohio through southwest New York by tomorrow, Weather.com reported. Most other areas of the upper Midwest and Northeast may see from 1 to 3 inches of snow, it said. Some Northeast locations will experience snow changing to rainfall.