Airlines issue travel waivers as winter storms drops ‘historic’ snow in parts of Midwest

Airlines are issuing a flurry of travel waivers allowing travelers to change their travel plans amid a winter storm in the Midwest.

A major winter storm blanketed parts of the middle of the country with snow that was forecast into late Tuesday in some areas, disrupting traffic and closing some coronavirus testing sites.

The National Weather Service said at least 4 inches of snow is expected across most of an area stretching from central Kansas northeast to Chicago and southern Michigan. Parts of southeast Nebraska and western Iowa could get more than three times that much by Tuesday morning. 

More than 10 inches of snow had already fallen in parts of eastern Nebraska by Monday evening, leading to early closures of several coronavirus testing sites in the state as well as Iowa. 

NWS meteorologist Taylor Nicolaisen said 10 to 15 inches of snow was likely between York, Nebraska, and Des Moines, Iowa, and that it has been at least 15 years since that area received more than a foot of snow in a single storm.

“This is historic snow,” said Nicolaisen, who is based near Omaha, Nebraska.

Airlines issue waivers and proactively cancel flights so they don’t strand passengers and planes. The destinations covered, travel dates and other fine print vary by airline and are likely to change with the storms’ projected path and severity. 

American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and United have already issued waivers covering travel on Monday and Tuesday for much of the Midwest. 

According to FlightAware, 73 flights are delayed and more than 178 flights into, out of and within the United States are canceled for Tuesday, with about 70 canceled for Wednesday.