Dozens of flight cancellations, delays ahead of winter storm

Blizzard bears down on Northeast

SOUTH FLORIDA – Dozens of flights have been cancelled or delayed at South Florida's airports as a severe winter storm bears down across 22 states.

The ripple effect of weather in the northeast is being felt in terminal 3 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport Thursday, and for some, it feels very good.

"I mean the weather's beautiful, coming from Wisconsin this is totally fine with me," said Teresa Rock.

"Well, we come from Wisconsin so it's like negative degrees there now. So it's nice to be in the sun and be able to tell everyone back home," said Melissa Vesil.

But not everyone is handling the delays and cancellations as cool. We saw more than a few frustrated fliers on the phone, trying to find another way to get home.

By mid-afternoon, JoyAnn Chandler and her family were hoping their flight to Boston wasn't a casually of the weather.  

"We got an earlier flight hoping that we could get out of here by 4 p.m., but they delayed us by the time we got here," said Chandler, who is travelling with four children under 7 years old.

Anyone travelling to the Midwest or the Northeast is urged to check with their airline on the status of their flight.

Several carriers have implemented programs to waive change fees for travelers who want to rebook their flights to any of the impacted destinations.

Check www.FLL.net for specific information on flight status.

Related: Airport Delays

Things were not much better at Miami International Airport, where hundreds of passengers were also dealing with delayed or cancelled flights.

Latoya Clark who is on her way from sunny Jamaica to snowy Connecticut, found out she won't be able to get to Hartford on Thursday night.

"Well they pretty much said that they can give me another itinerary for tomorrow and they did so swiftly so I am very appreciative of that," she said. "However American airlines doesn't provide accommodations or provisions for us and so at this point I'm hoping that my friend will be able to come along and pick me up."

If you plan to travel to the affected areas, you should call your airline to find out about possible flight delays or cancellations.

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The National Weather Service is using terms like "life-threatening" and "historic" to describe the weather system taking aim at the Northeast. Check out some of the other major blizzards in U.S. history.