More than 1,000 flights are canceled due to extreme weather in the US

More than a thousand domestic and international flights in the United States were canceled Tuesday as extreme weather battered the country from coast to coast.

With more than 70 canceled flights, Chicago O’Hare International Airport had the most cancellations, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. Ronald Reagan National Airport had about 45 flight cancellations, followed by Newark Liberty International Airport and then La Guardia Airport, both at just over 40.

The Federal Aviation Administration briefly issued a ground stop at O’Hare Tuesday afternoon due to excessive snow and ice.

Marc and Mary Dicklin of Ames, Iowa, and their family members, including their two college-age sons and their fiancés, looked at their phones and laptops at Des Moines International Airport as they waited to leave for a ski trip in the Swiss Alps.

Mr. Dicklin said they had been at the airport since 6 a.m. and their original flight from Des Moines was canceled just before boarding.

Kayla Kovarna, a spokeswoman for the Des Moines Airport Authority, said one of the two main runways at the airport was closed due to winds, and the other was closed from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. as crews plowed and chemically dried the surface. treated. At least 13 flights scheduled to depart from the airport on Tuesday were canceled and a dozen others were delayed, according to FlightAware. Ms Kovarna said she expected more disruptions.

Mr. Dicklin said Tuesday afternoon that his family’s rebooked flight to O’Hare was still listed on information boards as an on-time departure point, and that he hoped airport staff in Chicago would keep the runways clear for their connecting flight to Zurich while the storm reached its peak. a road through the Midwest.

His mother, Gisela Dicklin, traveled with the group. She was born in Bavaria, Germany, Mr. Dicklin said, and was eager to return to the area during the winter months.

“Keep your fingers crossed,” she said.

But as Tuesday evening approached, they learned their flight to Chicago had been canceled and they had been rebooked for an outbound flight Thursday morning. A six-day Swiss ski holiday was suddenly reduced to four days.

Mr. Dicklin tried to maintain a sense of perspective.

“It’s a day we’ll remember, and most of it you don’t remember,” he said.

Not all of Tuesday’s disruptions were weather related. Hundreds of flights were canceled as airlines planned to inspect nearly 200 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the mid-air impact of an Alaska Airlines Max 9 panel in a near-catastrophic accident Friday evening.

Some passengers’ travel plans could be disrupted for days.