Airlines cancel more than 6K flights due to U.S. storm

Travelers wait in a security line at O'Hare International Airport Friday, Jan. 22, 2016 in Chicago. Airlines at Chicago's two major airports have canceled 215 flights largely due to a blizzard threatening down on the East Coast. (AP / Teresa Crawford)

Airlines cancelled nearly 6,300 flights in the U.S. and beyond this weekend as a blizzard conditions, cold and ice hits much of the U.S., with East Coast cities feeling the most impact.

The bulk of Saturday's 4,418 cancellations are at airports in the New York City and Washington metro areas, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Another 1,855 flights were cancelled for Sunday. Those cancellationscentre on Philadelphia, Washington and New York, with airlines essentially shutting down all flights into those cities.

One bit of good news: Saturday is the slowest travel day of the week. There were a little more than 22,000 flights scheduled to, from or within the U.S., according to FlightAware. That's about 5,000 fewer flights -- and 400,000 fewer passengers -- than Thursday or Friday.

By Sunday afternoon, however, the airlines hope to be back to a full schedule to handle the typical influx of business travellers at the start of the week.

Amtrak has also cancelled or cut back on service. Several trains scheduled to depart Washington D.C. for New York City were cancelled. There is also no service from Washington to stations in Virginia and the Southeast, according to Amtrak's website.

All major airlines have issued waivers for travel over the weekend, allowing passengers to rebook onto earlier or later flights to avoid the storms. The airports included vary by airline but include some cities in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia all the way up the coast to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. As of late Friday night, American Airlines alone has issued waivers for 42 airports.

For those looking to cancel their trips, they need to wait until the airline officially calls off the flight. Airlines have been much more proactive in recent years about cancelling flights, often doing so up to a day in advance. More travellers are impacted, but they aren't stuck waiting in airports. It also lets airlines restart the system quicker because they have planes and crews in place.

If your flight is cancelled and you are stuck at the airport, here are some tips: