Hurricane Sandy disrupts 7,000 flights
By Rose Jacobs in London and agencies
Hurricane Sandy is causing financial headaches for airlines and passengers alike, with thousands of flights to and from the Northeast Corridor cancelled and affordable hotel rooms filling up at airports around the world.
Airlines started cancelling flights into and out of the US northeast region on Sunday evening as cities braced for floods and high winds from Sandy, which is expected to make landfall in the next 48 hours.
According to FlightAware.com, more than 7,100 Sunday and Monday flights had been cancelled by 9pm on Sunday. Airlines waived fees for people who had to change travel plans because of the grounded flights and offered free rebooking for those whose flights were still scheduled to take off but wanted to avoid the hassle of possible last-minute cancellations.
In New York City, the timing of flight cancellations by carriers such as US Airways was determined by the city’s decision to start shutting down its mass transit systems at 7pm, meaning passengers would have no way to get to and from the airport. “Even if we could get people to New York, the city’s basically shutting down,” said one European airline employee.
Hotels from Boston to Washington were busy handling cancellations for guests who could not get to destinations in the northeast, extending stays for those who could not leave town, and booking rooms for transfer passengers stuck halfway home.
In London, hotels were starting to fill up. “The lower categories are booked up but the higher rates are still available,” said the receptionist at the Sofitel at Heathrow. The lower-priced rooms typically cost £269 a night including VAT while the most expensive runs to £2,000 a night.
“We’re fully booked. It’s not really normal for a Monday night,” said the receptionist at the Radisson Blu just north of Heathrow.
US