Flights canceled as Irene moves up East Coast

Hundreds of thousands of airline passengers will be grounded this weekend as Hurricane Irene sweeps up the East Coast, past some of the nation's busiest airports.

Delta Air Lines said Friday afternoon that it would cancel 1,300 flights this weekend and shut down entirely at New York-area airports on Sunday. Earlier, JetBlue Airways said it was scrubbing about 880 flights, most of them to and from hub airports in New York and Boston between today and Monday.

American Airlines said it would cancel 265 flights today and probably even more on Sunday. It canceled 32 flights on Friday, mostly in North Carolina and Virginia. It also expects to halt flights in and out of Washington-area airports -- about 150 flights a day -- about noon today . Southwest Airlines planned to stop flights to and from Norfolk, Va., starting this morning.

Almost all of today's nonstop flights from Las Vegas to cities in the storm's path had been canceled, including those to Newark, John F. Kennedy in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Washington . Nonstop departures to the affected cities average about 40 a day, with close to half of them going to New York, out of a total of 494 at McCarran International Airport.

Also, passengers face the prospect of being stranded in hub cities, such as Chicago or Detroit, because flights from intermediate hubs were dropped.

Saturdays are generally slow at McCarran International Airport, and Sundays are normally the busiest. That raises the prospect of a crowded Monday.

Irene is expected to make landfall today around North Carolina , move up the coast to New York on Sunday and then weaken in New England. It could strike major airports from Washington to Boston.

Delta's 1,300 cancellations, including Delta Connection flights, will equal about 8 percent of the company's flights between today and Monday.

Other carriers probably will follow Delta and JetBlue in canceling flights. On Friday, they were waiting to be more certain about Irene's path before cutting flights.

The canceled JetBlue flights probably would have carried about 110,000 passengers. Delta did not say how many passengers would be affected.

Airlines waived rebooking fees for customers who wanted to delay their flights to more than two dozen cities on the East Coast. Details varied by airline, with some giving travelers more time to make their rescheduled flight. Travelers whose flights were canceled would be eligible for refunds.

A spokesman said Greyhound Lines started to cancel some service between Washington and New York on Thursday. Amtrak canceled most of its scheduled passenger rail service south of Washington today through Sunday.

Review-Journal writer Tim O'Reiley contributed to this report.