American, United and JetBlue Waive Change Fees as Nor'easter Nears

American Airlines, United Airlines and JetBlue Airways are letting customers change flights across the New York City area, Boston and smaller New England airports without paying a change fee or fare difference, as a nor'easter approaches the Northeast.

The fee waivers cover flights Friday through Sunday. Travelers can rebook to fly anytime before mid-next week at no extra cost, the three carriers said.

Federal forecasters warn the storm will bring high winds and heavy rainfall with the potential for dangerous flooding. As of Friday morning, the damage to schedules was limited: U.S. airports around the Northeast showed minimal delays, and airlines had posted few cancellations for the weekend.

That restraint reflects uncertainty. Carriers typically cancel a large share of their schedules — sometimes most of it — during severe winter storms or hurricanes, a move designed to keep planes, passengers and crews from being stranded in the wrong cities. This time, airlines are still assessing the nor'easter's potential path before pulling schedules.

The industry's playbook for mass cancellations remains costly. Carriers ground flights proactively because repositioning aircraft and crews after a storm disrupts operations for days, and the tab compounds when passengers must be rebooked across competing airlines.

A week of disruption for the Northeast corridor

The storm threat lands at a bad moment for Northeast air travel. An equipment outage on Monday forced carriers to cancel hundreds of flights bound for the New York area and Philadelphia, hitting the same corridor now in the storm's path.

The back-to-back disruptions test the flexibility airlines have built into booking policies since the pandemic. Change fees on most domestic fares have largely disappeared at the biggest U.S. carriers, but weather waivers matter because they also erase the fare difference — often the larger cost when rebooking close to departure.

For airlines, the waivers are a hedge. Encouraging passengers to shift travel to earlier or later flights voluntarily spreads demand away from the peak disruption window and reduces the crowds at rebooking counters and call centers once cancellations start.

Passengers holding tickets on the affected carriers for the weekend can move their trips now at no charge, provided the new travel falls before mid-next week. The offers apply to a broad set of airports in the New York region, Boston and smaller New England fields.

Whether the storm forces widespread cancellations depends on its track. If forecasters confirm the path toward the coast, expect the airlines to move quickly: the standard practice of pre-emptive schedule cuts would follow, ahead of the high winds and flooding rain federal forecasters say the system will deliver.