Flight in 9 days, snow in forecast
 

Hello,
I have a Delta airlines flight that leaves early morning on Dec. 22nd from DTW (Detroit airport) to Fort Lauderdale, but I believe the weather forecast is for some ice pellets on that day. Does anyone have any advice for me regarding the potential for a canceled flight due to the weather? Would Delta give me a new flight? Or how do they help passengers in this situation?
My ticket is one of these non-refundable tickets, so maybe I'm out of luck.
Thanks.

Nothing you can do about it at the moment. When it gets closer, if DL foresees an issue they will issue a weather waiver here: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...dvisories.html

That weather waiver will detail the airports impacted and the rules for making changes (you can look at the current ones for example). If impacted, Delta will give you the opportunity to reschedule or cancel depending on the rules they put in place.

FWIW, minor amounts of snow / ice at DTW aren't going to cause much of an issue (maybe a delay due to de-icing). They have experience with that at DTW to handle that - of course if it's significant that could cause problems but I wouldn't make assumptions based on a 9 day forecast.

thank you

The forecast nine days out will not have sufficient accuracy to be able to draw any conclusions regarding the reliability of airline flights. All you can do at this point is see what your options (travel earlier or later, etc.) would be if the predicted storm does disrupt your flight.

Morning flights are *usually* better than evening flights when airports start backing up and canceling flights due to weather. So there's that in your favor... (Unless there's something weird about Detroit weather that brings a lot of morning precipitation...)

In the winter, I usually book the first flight out if I can. That way, I generally know the night before if the plane made it into town... Then, as long as they can deice it safely, we're on time.

If it's a giant storm, your best hope is to leave ahead of it. Leaving after it is going to be hard unless you have a very high Delta elite status.

Welcome to the Delta forum! :)

I really don't mean this to sound snooty or sarcastic, but, does anyone really pay attention to or believe the accuracy of weather reports 9 days out?

I realize that the OP is just trying to be proactive, just in case.

My thoughts exactly. I don't even start looking at weather forecasts until 4-5 days out and even then, just at the temperatures. But obviously some people do believe such long-range forecasts.

Really nothing to worry about at this point, but if there is a weather waiver you will be able to move your flights earlier or later depending on the conditions of the weather waiver. Are you happening to fly to FLL to depart on a cruise? If so, I hope you are not arriving the day that the crusie ship departs :(

If one does not fly a lot, they may think that even if they are on a non-refundable fare, that they will not be able to re-book because of weather or schedule change...It's why people who only post 2-5 times come to this forum. That's why we don't mock them. (not saying you did dave travels):p

So, even though the weather reports are not looking good 9 days out.. if there are issues, delta will work with you to get to your destination even if you have a non-refundable fare. As others have posted, they may announce if there is a travel advisory. No need to worry this way out, but check the weather advisories daily.. That's what I do when I am flying this time of year where weather may be iffy. Most of the time the norther airports can handle this type of thing..

David...greetings from State and 94. You SHOULD be fine.

1) DL has A LOT of lift between DTW and South Florida
2) DTW is AWESOME with snow. Last weekend's storm that brought 9 inches to Ann Arbor led to only a few (DL Connection) cancellations. Mainline seems to be able to keep on track with massive de-icing.
3) Should there be something severe with which the airport can't keep up, there will be waivers in place that will allow re-booking. With a storm like that, there would likely be massive mis-connects which would open up local inventory.

Have a great flight.

On Sunday evening, the forecast for the 22-23 was sunny with temps in the high 40s/lower 50s. As you noticed, it's now a freezing rain/snow mixture with temps in the 30s. It'll probably change again within the next week.

Why do I know this? Because I have a meeting in Pittsburgh on the 23rd; I plan to drive but if there's inclement weather conditions, I plan to fly. I'd rather not pay $1200 for a flight ticket and rental car when I can drive there faster for $50 in gas & tolls. But I'm worried about my car not making it ontime - I'm not worried about the flights :).

Let me know if you (or anyone else in Pittsburgh) have time for a coffee or a snack! Maybe we can hava mini get together! :)

The important questions are:

(1) Is Delta good at auto-rebooking online? Or allowing the passenger to proactively rebook online, once a weather event has been declared?

(2) Does the OP have elite status? Or lounge access?

Those are more important than the fare bucket. Fare bucket would be a tiebreaker on a standby list I suppose, but if the OP doesn't have elite status that's going to be a moot point anyway.

IME, Delta is not horrible at auto-rebooking. AA is horrible at auto rebooking - before and after the US merger.

IME, self rebooking on the app is great. I've had fine luck, even with short delays, where fare bucket inventory was ignored and routing changes were permitted (even on an award). I haven't tried for an alternate destination in my IROPS rebookings of late.

The OP should download the app and find his itinerary if he hasn't already.

(But yeh, the value of a Michigan winter weather forecast nine days out? Utterly worthless.)

The only concern I would have is if you are flying to FLL to get on a cruise ship that same day. In my hundreds of flights to FLL on Sundays, I witnessed this panic in too many pax. You'll get out of DTW. They are very good with weather there and MSP. As others have said, you may be delayed for de-icing. Depending on your cushion and if you are cruising, you might get very tight timelines.

One thought is to download the FlightAware application to your phone. That way as you get into the day before, etc, you can see where the inbound plane is coming from and if that is delayed. Sometimes you can be proactive seeing delays that Delta does not announce and ask to get on a different routing at the check in counter (before security). Perhaps you could go DTW-ATL-FLL. Again, all very early to even consider but some tools to have in your back pocket as the day arrives.