Major US airlines issue travel waivers as winter storm Blair disrupts flights

As Winter Storm Blair careens its way across the Central and Eastern United States, airlines are scrambling to provide passengers on flights affected by the storm with alternative options and travel waivers.

Perfect (weather) timing.

Many weather forecasters consider Winter Storm Blair to be the first major storm of the winter season in the United States.

The development of the storm over the New Year coincided with a substantial shift south in the polar jet stream over North America from the northern latitudes in Canada to the Southern United States.

The resulting blast of polar air over the US plunged temperatures in some places to nearly -20 degrees Celsius (~0 degrees Fahrenheit) with wind-chill.

After developing over the Rocky Mountains, the storm began to make its way across the US towards the East Coast along the powerful polar jet stream.

Towards the end of the first week and weekend of 2025, the winter storm drenched parts of the Great Plains in over a foot (~0.3 meters) of snow.

On Sunday, over 50 million Americans were still under some kind of weather advisory, watch, or warning due to the massive winter storm.

Even as the storm passed in the west over the weekend, there were still travel and flight disruptions such as in Colorado.

On Sunday, over 600 flights were delayed Denver International Airport with 100 being canceled due to a combination of dense fog and snow washing over Colorado in the wake of Winter Storm Blair.

Waivers, waivers, and more waivers

Airlines have really been feeling the financial "freeze" from Winter Storm Blair. The path the storm is taking has put airports such as Saint Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and the three major Washington DC airports - IAD, BWI, and DCA - directly in the bullseye of the storm, where the amount of snowfall expected is around 6 inches (15 centimeters) or greater.

As such, airlines have been anticipating flight delays and cancelations until the storm is due to roll out into the Atlantic Ocean later in the week.

Let's take a look at what some of the major US airlines are doing to console their customers affected by the winter storm.

United Airlines

Passengers flying to, from, and between the cities of Cincinnati (CVG), St. Louis (STL), Indianapolis (IND), Kansas City (MCI), Lincoln (LNK) and a dozen other Midwestern airports up until Monday are allowed to re-book their flights free of change fees on the United Airlines website.

The only conditions are that passengers keep their departure and arrival cities the same and that they travel before January 13th.

The airline is also offering its passengers flying out of 11 "Mid-Atlantic" region airports (Nashville (BNA), and the Washington DC area airports - IAD, DCA, BWI - among them) the chance to rebook under the same conditions.

Delta Air Lines

The carrier is waiving change fees for travelers flying to, from, and through the same cities as United, plus the addition of Philadelphia International Airport (PHL).

This is rather unusual, as the Southeastern Pennsylvania airport is only expected to receive around 3 to 4 inches of snow at most. Travelers flying on Delta Air Lines between Sunday and Monday need to travel by January 10th or else their tickets become void.

American Airlines

Even though Winter Storm Blair isn't slated to have any effect on areas north of the Central New Jersey and Pennsylvania, American Airlines is offering free flight changes to passengers with tickets traveling to and from Syracuse (SYR) and Buffalo (BUF) in Upstate New York.

This is due to low visibility and a "Lake Snow Effect Warning" that is currently in effect for parts of New York State including the Syracuse and Buffalo metro areas.

In essence, the Lake Snow Effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a cold air mass passes over the warm waters of the Great Lakes between Canada and the US during winter.

The warmer waters of the Great Lakes (Lake Erie in this case) amplify the cold air mass, turning what would otherwise be a few insignificant snow showers into low-visibility snowstorms.

American Airlines is also providing free rebooking to passengers traveling to the largest number of cities affected by the winter weather among the big three US airlines. Passengers flying with American Airlines who choose to rebook must fly by January 9th.