Snowmageddon 2.0 Cancels Travel Plans for Midwest, East Coast

(MoneyWatch)  Connecticut is preparing its roads and bridges for a winter storm said to bring around a foot of snow today, while at Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.'s airports cancelled flights have become the norm. The weather in D.C., also seems to have slowed buses and trains as well as shut down the legislative branch for the third straight day. All flights at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall, Reagan National and Dulles International airports were suspended today, while at Newark Liberty Airport, Continental Airlines cancelled all 400 of its flights.

In New York City, at LaGuardia, most flights were cancelled and several government agencies closed their doors because of the weather, including the United Nations. Limited Amtrak service would be serving the Northeast corridor, while Megabus and Boltbus suspended service from Baltimore to New York. So far Greyhound isn't reporting any cancellations.

In the Midwest, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is experiencing heavy cancellations and delays, with almost all of its airlines offering travel waivers or free rebooking if flying to affected destinations (at least Continental, American, Delta, Southwest and United anyway.)

Those facing cancelled or delayed flights are at the mercy of airlines and while this time the airlines have been more generous with rebooking and travel waivers than previously reported on BNET, they are still more rigid about destinations and originating flights than flexible about a customer's inconvenience or lost time. Airlines are notoriously bad at customer service and this instance, while showing some improvement, tells me they still have a way to go.