MINNEAPOLIS — With a major winter storm forecast to impact a large swath of Midwest and east coast just in time for the busy holiday travel season, airlines are starting to issue travel waivers for fliers looking to change their plans.
American Airlines is waiving change fees for passengers traveling to, from or through nearly 60 airports on the east coast and in the Midwest, including Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The change fee is waived if you:
- Are booked in any fare class, including Basic Economy
- Bought your ticket by Dec. 19, 2022
- Are scheduled to travel Dec. 21 - 23, 2022
- Can travel Dec. 19 - 30, 2022
- Don't change your origin or destination city
- Rebook in the same cabin or pay the difference
Changes must be booked by Dec. 23, 2022 and completed within one year of the original ticket date.
Travelers flying through more than two dozen Midwest airports are eligible to rebook their travel for a later date, if their original travel date was between Dec. 21-15.
A new ticket must be issued on or before Dec. 28 and rebooked travel must begin no later than Dec. 28.
If you rebook your travel on or before Dec. 28, a fare difference will be waived if you book in the same cabin service as your original ticket. Fare differences might apply if the original booking class isn't in the same as the rebooked itinerary and if rebooked travel happens after Dec. 28.
- Atlantic and Northeast Region: Those traveling to, through or from the airports/cities listed must have their ticket reissued on or before Dec. 27 and have rebooked travel beginning no later than Dec. 27.
- Pacific Northwest: Those traveling to, through or from the airports/cities listed must have their ticket reissued on or before Dec. 25 and have rebooked travel beginning no later than Dec. 25.
- Northwest Mountain Region: Those traveling to, through or from the airports/cities listed must have their ticket reissued on or before Dec. 26 and have rebooked travel beginning no later than Dec. 26.
JetBlue will waive change and cancel fees and fare differences for passengers traveling between Dec. 21 through Dec. 23 to and from these cities:
- Chicago, IL
- Kansas City, MO
- Milwaukee, WI
- Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
Original travel must have been booked on or before Monday, Dec. 19.
Customers can rebook flights for travel between Dec. 20-25. Those with canceled flights can opt for a refund.
Travel may be rebooked in the original class of service and travel must take place within 14 days of their original travel date between the original city pairs.
Impacted Midwest airports include:
- Des Moines International Airport
- Detroit Metro Airport
- Grand Rapids Gerald R. Ford International Airport
- Indianapolis International Airport
- Kansas City International Airport
- Chicago Midway International Airport
- Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport
- Minneapolis-St. Paul
- Omaha Eppley Aiport
- Chicago O'Hare International Airport
- St. Louis Lambert International Airport
Impacted travel dates are between Dec. 21-26, 2022.
Spirit has Flexible Travel Policies in place to, from or through the following Midwest airports:
- Chicago, IL
- Indianapolis, IN
- Kansas City, MO
- Milwaukee, WI
- Minneapolis, MN
- St Louis, MO
Tickets booked for Dec. 21-23 are eligible to have the modification charge and fare difference waived through Dec. 28, 2022. After that date, Spirit says the modification charge is waived, but a fare difference may apply.
Sun Country Airlines will allow passengers who purchased tickets to/from the following airports to rebook on another flight with no additional cost if tickets were purchased before Dec. 19, 2022, travel was for Dec. 21-23, new travel begins by Dec. 30, 2022 and space is available in the same cabin as the original ticket:
- Minneapolis/St. Paul
- Duluth
- Rochester
- Madison
- Milwaukee
- Eau Claire
- Green Bay
United will waive change fees and fare differences for flights departing on or before Dec. 30, 2022, as long as travel is rescheduled in the originally ticketed cabin. Rescheduled flights must also be between the same cities as originally ticketed.
The original ticket must have been purchased by Dec. 17, 2022.
Original travel dates: Dec. 21, 2022 - Dec. 25, 2022.
United also has waivers in place for dozens of airports along the east coast, Texas and the central and northwest U.S.
Snow is forecast to begin in Minnesota Wednesday morning and will last through Friday. Most accumulating snow will happen Wednesday morning through Thursday morning. Between 5-10 inches of snow is forecast to fall during the storm. After that, blowing snow and strong wind gusts could create white-out conditions.
"I would say the biggest impacts will be in the open terrain," KARE 11 meteorologist Ben Dery said. "Places that don't have a lot of trees, a lot of farm country, say parts of western, southwestern and southern Minnesota. That's where you have the best potential of blizzard-like conditions."
A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for a large portion of Minnesota and Wisconsin from Wednesday morning through Friday night.
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