New York City To Stop Arriving Flights, East Coast Travel Snarls As Irene Approaches

UPDATE: 8/27/11 12:50 p.m. EST: Irene will cause 5 New York City airports to suspend arriving flights beginning at noon Saturday according to an AP Report.

"The suspension affects John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports in New York City, Stewart International in the city's northern suburbs and Newark Liberty International and Teterboro in New Jersey. It applies to domestic and international flights."

For more information on NYC airports check the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Alerts and Advisories page

If you're expecting to travel to cities along the East Coast, contact your airline carrier about flight times and cancelations as it is highly likely that you will have to rebook with all of the cancellations through Sunday.

UPDATE 8/26/11 5:00 p.m. EST: As Irene slowly makes her way to the northeast, New York Mayor Bloomberg has ordered an evacuation of low-lying areas of the city.

The scope of flight cancellations widens, with Delta announcing the cancellation of 1,300 flights, the Associated Press reports.

American airlines will suspend service out of Washington, D.C. for 24 hours beginning noon Saturday, affecting approximately 265 flights, reports Bloomberg. Southwest's Norfolk service will be grounded Saturday, cancelling about 18 flights.

According to International Business Times, JetBlue canceled 882 flights - or 75% of its weekend schedule - from Aug. 27-29. Most of these involve New York's JFK airport, but Boston is affected by cancellations as well.

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UPDATE 8/26/11 1: p.m. EST: As Irene continues her approach to the U.S., airlines are preemptively cancelling flights.

American Airlines has "tentatively canceled" all flights in the Washington area from noon Saturday to noon Sunday, reports CNN, and all Saturday flights into and out of Raleigh/Durham are cancelled on Saturday. AirTran has cancelled more than two dozen flights on Saturday and Sunday and Jet Blue has cancelled nearly 900 ? mostly on Sunday and Monday in the Northeast.

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UPDATE 8/26/11, 8 a.m. EST: After thrashing the Bahamas, Hurricane Irene has lost a little steam, but she still has her sights set on the eastern US. Though she was downgraded to a category two storm, by the time Irene reaches North Carolina, she's is expected to be a category three storm.

As of Friday morning, Irene's center was still about 420 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and moving to the north at 14 mph, reports the Associated Press. Irene will be the strongest storm to hit the east coast in seven years.

This has already led airlines to take action, and Amtrak is following suit. According to the rail system's website, most trains traveling south of Washington, D.C. were canceled yesterday. For Friday, Saturday and Sunday this includes: Auto Train Trains 52 and 53 (Sanford, Fla. - Lorton, Va.), Palmetto Trains 89 and 90 (New York - Savannah), Silver Meteor Trains 97 and 98 (New York - Miami). Silver Star Trains 91 and 92 (New York -Tampa - Miami) are canceled from New York to Jacksonville, but will operate between Jacksonville and Miami. Carolinian Trains 79 and 80 (New York - Charlotte, N.C.) will be canceled on Saturday. And, on Friday, Northeast Regional Trains 67 and 83 (Boston ? Newport News) will terminate in Washington.

The weather might also impact trains in the rest of the country. "The trains we have canceled thus far are north-south on the east coast," Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm told NBC Chicago. "East-west trains into New York could be impacted if the weather gets severe enough."

In Washington, Sunday's dedication ceremony for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial has been postponed, reports local radio station WAMU. Instead, the events will end after a prayer service on Saturday morning. Officials hope to reschedule for September or October.

As of Friday morning, airports were operating normally, an FAA map showed. Airlines are still offering refunds and fee-free flight changes to passengers affected by the storm. For a list of affected airports, click here.

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