Holiday travelers lining up at Logan Airport trying to get out before the storm

BOSTON — Hundreds of flights have already been canceled across the country as a massive storm barrels its way now toward the northeast. The Boston area is going to experience heavy rain and strong winds—but that could still pose a problem for people traveling to see family for the holidays.

Roughly 190 million people across the country are under some type of weather advisory, according to the National Weather Service. The timing of this massive storm couldn’t be worse, as we are just days away from Christmas. It’s affecting a lot of people because more people are traveling this year. At Logan, Massport expects to serve more than one million passengers during a 15-day period, which is just slightly less than pre-pandemic levels.

The storm is currently sweeping across the mid-west and making its way here to New England. In places like Chicago and Minneapolis, they are going to get a white Christmas, but for us, it’s going to be a lot of wind and rain. Either way, it’s causing major problems for airports. Hundreds of flights have already been canceled.

At logan, they are preparing with extra staffing on hand. Massport suggests getting to the airport ahead of time, due to roadway construction and tunnel closures. Officials recommend getting to logan two hours before domestic flights and three hours for international flights. If you are flying with gifts, make sure they are unwrapped. Check with your airline before arriving to the airport. Most airlines are waiving change fees should something get delayed or canceled.

Boston 25 News spoke with several travelers Thursday morning about how they are getting out just in time for their vacations.

“When we go down to Florida, they’re going to have record cold temperatures, so we picked a great time, we’re lucky that we picked today to travel and not later today or tomorrow, but we’ll still have a good time because we’re with family,” said Nancy Romano of Hanover, New Hampshire.

“I always arrive like 30 minutes before because I have pre-check the family isn’t on precheck yet so I’m just going with this general population right now,” said Kedar Frederic of Methuen. “It’s stressful. I’d be on the plane right now having a cocktail.”

“We knew the storm was going to hit tomorrow so I think we’ll be ok, but we might miss our flight now due to us coming in late,” said Lisa Frederic.

Boston is expected to experience heavy rain and winds gusting up to 60 miles an hour, but they are doing everything they can to make sure flights take off and passengers get to their destinations safely.

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