Several KCI flights east canceled

At least 10 flights east from Kansas City International Airport were canceled Friday, and more are expected to be called off on Saturday — just a few of the thousands grounded nationally because ice and more heavy snow are forecast from New York to Washington, D.C.

Airlines canceled 2,800 flights Friday to, from or within the U.S., according to flight tracking service FlightAware. At least 3,200 were canceled for Saturday — about 12 percent of those scheduled.

The flights out of KCI that were canceled Friday were headed to American Airlines’ hub in Charlotte, N.C.; Baltimore; both D.C. airports; New York; and Newark. The Charlotte flights would have continued to destinations such as Philadelphia and Rochester, N.Y.

American, Southwest, Delta and United all had cancellations.

The KCI spokesman Joe McBride said American already had canceled its similar KCI flights for Saturday. Other airlines are likely to follow suit.

“We always encourage people when they book their flights to give their contact information to their airlines so they can receive updates on flight status,” McBride said.

The good news, he said, is that when the weather is this severe, airlines typically waive charges for rebooking and rescheduling. That’s the case for this weekend, the major airlines said Friday, for many airports in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia and up the East Coast to New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

American Airlines was in the forefront on cancellations, saying it wanted to get the rescheduling process going. American has issued waivers for 42 airports.

The airlines were hopeful that flights could resume Sunday, in time for Monday’s usually heavy business travel.

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Several KCI flights east canceled."