noah

Of course the one trip this year I'm flying Alaska (PDX-BOS on 12/25, can't beat the nonstop), United issues a weather waiver:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,53675,00.html


A travel waiver has been issued for various locations on the U.S. East Coast due to weather 12/25-12/27..


Newark, NJ (EWR)
New York, NY (LGA/JFK)
Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
Boston, MA (BOS)
Washington, DC (IAD/DCA)
Baltimore, MD (BWI)
Atlanta, GA (ATL)
December 25-27, 2010

craz

dont know why the NY area has a Wavier for 12/25 as they are saying they dont expect any snow to hit (if at all) till Sun 12/26

buckeyefanflyer

Very Ridiculous, a few inches of snow and you want people returning from a holiday weekend to disrupt their plans. Stop issuing these weather waivers and please learn how to handle air traffic in these situations and don't be so lazy.

Bow Rider

Which I learned 5 minutes after booking a flight out of DCA on the 27th . The bell curve is pretty wide for these storms.

sosafan

A weather waiver allows people to change their plans without penalty. Why do you object?

azepine00

Huh? How can a proactive waiver that adds flexibility be a bad thing?

flyinglan

I see United anticipates weather disruption that may impact its customers' holiday travel and offers its customers option to avoid potential weather disruption. The weather waiver, in no way, suggests that United forces its customers to change their travel itinerary.

buckeyefanflyer

I disagree with change fees, years ago this did not exist. If there is a fare difference, OK, but in some cases you have to pay $200 plus to change flights plus the change fee.
If you want me to change my plans to help you out how about reducing my ticket price.
When there is a big major storm, most experienced fliers have common sense to look at the forecast and see if they can change their plans. But some of these waivers say they are doing in Atlanta, it is going to be in the 50's tommorow and maybe a few snow flakes Saturday, so why scare people into changing their flights by offering to waive the change fee.

CO has the waiver for these east coast cities, especially the Newark hub.
The forecast for Saturday is partly cloudy, Sunday a chance of a few snow showers yet Contiental is calling this a winter storm. I do not get this at all.

Portolan

Because, maybe, weather isn't entirely predictable?

The current forecast for Washington on Sunday is 1) light snow showers, or 2) (if the storm track turns) major snow. The latter possibility has been diminishing today and appears decreasingly likely, but you NEVER know for sure.

This has nothing to do with whether or not change fees are reasonable (they aren't) and everything to do with proactively anticipating problems and providing some peace of mind for the travelers.

Hard to follow your logic. If this is a bad thing then it would be good for United to deny any predicted weather or willingness to accomodate people?

CDKing

Everyones probably just trying to play it safe due to the London debacle

cordelli

Nobody is being forced to make any changes because waivers have been issued. The airlines are giving people the flexibility should it be needed to change flights without any penalty.

I see it this way. If you for example have a 6 am flight on Monday out of Newark, and the magic three red x's come together (it's really what the weather person said on the six o'clock news tonight) and there is a storm, then the two choices are:

1) Figure that there is a good chance your flight may be delayed or cancelled on Monday morning. Fly out Sunday night under the waiver without having to pay a change fee when the flights are all still moving

or

2) Think the airlines are forcing you to change your plans, show up at the airport Monday morning in the middle of a snowstorm, and sit there for two days hoping for a flight to take off in the next day or two.

I really don't see how the airlines offering everybody the flexibility, should they choose to take advantage of it, in case the storms do materalize and the three red x's all come together.

aluminumdriver

Your gripe makes absolutely no sense. United is "letting" people change their plans for no cost, what is your deal with that? If you don't want to change your plans, don't, no one is making you. As for Atlanta, I was just there and they are calling for freezing rain and snow on Sunday, has no bearing what the weather is NOW. Thanks for proving people love to complain about anything, even when it doesn't affect them. BTW, not United having issues usually with the weather, but us having to deal with ATC and their limitations.

AD

perkunas

I don't want to change my Christmas-day flights -- my UDU's are already confirmed!

ExCrew

See...this is why I love this site. Was booked on a flight on the 26th that would have gotten me home at 11pm. With the travel waiver, I was able to change to an earlier flight for free, getting me home by noon. Plus, the upgrade pre-confirmed. SWEET.
Thanks for posting!

capedreamer

Similar story for me! Just came across this post, figured CO might have issued the same advisory, checked to make sure, called, confirmed, and saved myself from having to do this!

^