Travelers heading into or out of the Northeast this weekend have been handed a welcome bit of flexibility. Several major U.S. airlines are letting customers booked on Friday, Saturday and Sunday flights change their plans without paying a change fee, ahead of a nor’easter that federal forecasters say could bring strong winds, heavy rain and dangerous flooding.
The carriers offering waivers are American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL), United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) and JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU). Customers flying through New York City area airports, Boston and several smaller New England airports can switch flights with no change fee and no fare difference, as long as they travel before the middle of next week. The details vary by airline. JetBlue, for example, is allowing rebooked travel through Sept. 30 and will refund canceled flights for trips booked on or before Sept. 24. American requires that tickets were bought by Sept. 23 and that the new flight keeps the same cabin and the same cities.
What makes this storm stand out is the calendar. Nor’easters take their name from the northeast winds they drive onto the coast, and they are most frequent and most intense between September and April. A strong one this early is uncommon. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu pointed out that New England is used to these storms, just not in September, and coastal flood warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to New Jersey and Connecticut by Thursday evening. A McGill University atmospheric scientist described the storm as unusual for forming so soon in autumn.
The storms themselves are not rare. A team led by Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, tracked 900 nor’easters between 1940 and 2025, an average of about 10.6 per year, in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers found that the most powerful storms, those in the top 1%, have grown stronger, with peak winds rising from roughly 69 mph to about 74 mph over that period. That sounds modest, but Mann told Live Science that the change amounts to roughly a 20% increase in the destructive potential of these storms.
Fee waivers have become a standard part of how airlines handle these events. In March 2018, American, Southwest (NYSE: LUV), JetBlue and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) offered free changes ahead of a Northeast storm. In October 2025, American, Delta, United and JetBlue did the same as a coastal storm brought flood and wind warnings from Maine to Virginia. The most recent large example came this past winter. During a February 2026 blizzard, JetBlue, American, Delta, Southwest and United all let travelers reschedule at no charge. That storm was far more disruptive, with more than 3,300 U.S. flights canceled on Sunday, Feb. 22, and over 4,800 more scrapped in advance for the following day.
There is a clear business reason behind this generosity. When a severe storm approaches, airlines often cancel a large share of their schedules so that planes, crews and passengers are not stuck in the wrong places afterward. Encouraging customers to move voluntarily makes that job easier, since every passenger who shifts to a later flight is one fewer person to rebook during a crisis. As of Friday morning, delays around the Northeast were minimal and few weekend cancellations had been posted, while carriers were still studying the storm’s likely path.
Passengers should also know where they stand if a flight is canceled outright. A U.S. Department of Transportation rule that took effect in October 2024 requires airlines to issue refunds automatically and quickly when they are owed, and a canceled flight qualifies no matter the cause, weather included. Federal regulators do not, however, require airlines to pay cash for delays.
The timing adds to an already difficult stretch for the region. On Monday, an equipment outage forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights headed to the New York area and Philadelphia. For anyone with a trip planned this weekend, the practical step is to check the airline’s travel advisory now rather than waiting for a cancellation notice. Rebooking early under a waiver costs nothing, while waiting can leave fewer seats to choose from once the storm arrives.
