Topline
Due to forecasted heavy rain and thunderstorms along the East Coast, and with Tropical Storm Erin likely to become the season’s first hurricane, major U.S. airlines are allowing passengers flying in or out of hubs in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to change their travel plans at no extra cost.
Southwest Airlines has a travel advisory allowing passengers scheduled to fly in or out of 12 east coast airports Wednesday or Thursday to rebook without a penalty for travel within 14 days.
Delta Air Lines issued a travel advisory covering nine airports in major Northeast and Mid-Atlantic hubs—Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington—allowing passengers ticketed to fly Wednesday or Thursday to rebook at no charge for travel through Saturday, Aug. 16.
JetBlue Airways has a travel alert covering five New York metro airports—John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark, Islip and Westchester County—letting passengers ticketed for travel Wednesday to reschedule for free through Aug. 16.
“A large area of warm and moist air already present across the eastern U.S. and into the Deep South will be an ingredient for scattered showers and thunderstorms that are expected to be most active from late afternoon into the evening hours,” according to the National Weather Service. “Heavy rain can be expected to accompany the stronger storms through the next couple of days in these areas.”
As of 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, more than 930 flights in the United States were delayed, according to data from Flightaware. This is not unusual in the summer. Travelers flying Wednesday and Thursday afternoon should check their flight status before heading to the airport to make sure it is operating on time. Passengers with flights covered by an airline travel waiver may consider rebooking to a later date without having to pay a change fee or fare difference. Travelers can download the carrier’s app to monitor for updates or plug their flight information into FlightAware and click the “Where is my plane now?” link just under the flight number. The tool lets flyers see if their plane is running ahead of schedule, on time or behind schedule—typically before the airline announces a delay or cancellation, which can save valuable time if rebooking is necessary.
Tropical Storm Erin will “likely become a hurricane by late Thursday or early Friday” according to the most recent update from the National Hurricane Center. As of Wednesday morning, the storm has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and is moving across the Atlantic Ocean at a speed of roughly 20 mph and will impact portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico by this weekend. Most forecast models do not show the storm making landfall in the United States.
Tropical Storm Erin Expected To Become First Major Hurricane Of 2025 Atlantic Season: What To Know (Forbes)