Rare snowstorm hits southern U.S.; Air Canada, WestJet activate flexible ticketing

An intense winter storm in the United States is still causing travel disruptions across southeastern parts of the country this week, resulting in numerous flight cancellations and travel waivers from airlines.

More than 1,300 U.S. flights are cancelled and nearly 1,000 others are delayed as of 8 a.m. ET Wednesday (Jan. 22), according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

More than a third of cancellations are at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, which both plan to resume operations later Wednesday after temporarily suspending them for the storm.

Other cities, like New Orleans, Charleston, South Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida, are also seeing flight disruptions.

Flexible ticketing activated

Air Canada has revised its ticketing policy to make it easier for customers travelling on affected flights to make changes to their booking without penalty (space permitting).

The airline has posted flight alerts for January 22 for Atlanta, Austin, Houston and New Orleans.

WestJet, too, has activated a flexible ticketing policy. It applies to its flights to Atlanta, GA and Houston (G. Bush Intercontinental), TX, for travel on January 22.

A $0 one-time fee waiver will be offered for changes or cancellations, the airline says. If you cancel your booking, the funds will be refunded or credited based on the fare class booked (Basic will receive travel credit). Click here for complete details.

Rare winter weather

Rare winter weather blanketed parts of the U.S. on Tuesday (Jan. 21) with snow and ice, disrupting all forms of transportation.

"A bitterly cold airmass will remain in place for much of the South and eastern U.S. over the next couple of days," the National Weather Service said Tuesday in a forecast as it advised the public about the prospect of heavy snow, freezing rain and a “significant winter storm.”

Many flight disruptions hit Texas, where airports in Houston shut down, whereas elsewhere, including Tallahassee International Airport in Florida, operations shuttered later in the day.

In Louisiana, most flights were cancelled at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The airport said on its website that airlines planned to resume operations on Wednesday, weather permitting.

The last time New Orleans received any measurable snowfall was back in 2009, according to the NWS.

The storm is expected to whirl through Mississippi, Georgia and Florida early this week.

In some cases, residents in communities known for sunshine and beaches woke up to a winter wonderland today

In northeast South Carolina and coastal North Carolina, some regions saw as much as five inches of snow, according to local news reports.

It’s the most snow the region has seen in at least a decade, local meteorologists say.

"We encourage everyone to exercise caution today if you’re out and about as poor road conditions have been reported across The Grand Strand," wrote Visit Myrtle Beach on its Facebook page, sharing an image of a snow-covered coastline.

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