Blizzard will bring travel to a halt in the Northeast

A potentially historic blizzard bearing down on the Northeast will bring travel to a virtual halt Tuesday, with flights canceled, road travel banned and service on New York City's vital subway and commuter rail lines limited or suspended on the cusp of the storm.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a winter weather state of emergency on Monday and said that as of 11 p.m., no non-emergency vehicles would be allowed on the roads. The travel ban mirrored a similar restriction in Connecticut, where Gov. Dannel Malloy said driving by non-emergency workers would be prohibited as of 9 p.m. Monday. In Massachusetts, a travel ban would take effect at midnight Monday night, and Rhode Island and New Jersey issued travel prohibitions of their own.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said anyone who defied a travel ban, taking effect at 11 p.m. Monday in 13 counties, could face fines of up to $300.

"This is a serious situation,'' Cuomo said in a news briefing Monday. "If you violate this state order, it's a possible misdemeanor.''

In New York City, de Blasio said in a separate news conference Monday, "We will continue that emergency declaration until the situation is safe. ... This will most likely be one of the largest blizzards in the history of New York City ... and people have to be ready.''

Cuomo declared a state of emergency for parts of the state, and said that at 11 p.m. . Monday service on New York's subway system would cease. Service was expected to be suspended on the Metro North and Long Island Rail Road commuter lines by 11 p.m.

New York City, where millions depend on public transportation to get to school, home and work, was crippled in October 2012 when Hurricane Sandy flooded subway tunnels. Cuomo said the mass transit suspensions were necessary "so the trains can be put in a place that is safe from the weather.''

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which operates subway, bus and commuter rail lines in Boston, announced a suspension of all modes of service on Tuesday. t New Jersey Transit, which operates buses and trains, was to start its last trips at 8 p.m. Monday and then shut down.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie said at a news conference, "As you're leaving work, picking up your children from school ... get off the roads as quickly as you can.''

Amtrak canceled Acela Express and Northeast Regional service between New York and Boston that was scheduled for Tuesday. Service will be reduced on those train lines between New York and Washington D.C., as well as on the Keystone line between New York and Harrisburg Pa. Service on several other routes, such as the Springfield line between New Haven, Conn. and Springfield, Mass. has been suspended.

Even though transit service would come to a halt during the heart of the storm, a mammoth effort was underway by local mass-transit agencies to make sure railroad tracks didn't freeze and station platforms and tunnels remained cleared of snow.

The Metro-North commuter rail system and Long Island Rail Road will have extra engineers on duty to make sure the connecting tracks that enable trains to shift from one track to another are not disabled during the blizzard. Those connecting tracks, also known as switches, were being treated with antifreeze and warmed by heaters.

Air travel was severely disrupted as airlines tried to get ahead of the storm and give travelers time to make alternate plans.

More than 6,950 flights had been canceled through Wednesday, the bulk of them scheduled to fly in and out of the major New York-area portals of JFK, Newark and LaGuardia, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.com..More than 2,790 flights were canceled for Monday alone. But Tuesday will be the day that a flight in and out of the New York area, Boston and Philadelphia will be virtually impossible to find.

Airlines at Boston's Logan and New York's La Guardia airports had canceled nearly all scheduled flights for Tuesday. United canceled all flights scheduled for Tuesday out of New York's major airports, as well as Boston and Philadelphia. Delta was expecting to cancel 960 flights on Tuesday, after scrapping 730 flights on Monday. And JetBlue, whose service is concentrated in the Northeast, canceled roughly 995 flights through Wednesday morning.

"We've canceled these flights well in advance of their scheduled departures to give customers time to make necessary travel arrangements and are offering rebooking for the next available flight,'' JetBlue said in a statement.

David Atwater was on his way back to Chicago and had even called to confirm that his flight was taking off as planned. But when he arrived at La Guardia, he found out it was canceled.

"We're looking at ... Thursday before we get back into Chicago,'' Atwater said, adding that his prolonged stay in New York is going to cost him. "We called the travel agent to see if we could get some kind of assistance but they said they couldn't help us, so we're dealing with it out of our own pocket.''

Airlines are waiving the usual fees charged for changing a reservation. JetBlue passengers, for instance, who had tickets to travel Monday or Tuesday can make new reservations for flights to storm-affected cities through Friday without paying rebooking fees, or the difference in ticket price. Delta passengers can get a refund if their trip is canceled or significantly delayed, and if they were headed to, from or through one of the affected cities, they can book a new trip through Friday at no extra charge.

The brunt of the storm is expected to have passed by Wednesday morning, but getting passengers from hundreds of canceled flights rebooked and on their way will likely take time. "We expect the storm to pass overnight on Tuesday,'' said JetBlue, "but a full return to normal operations will be dependent on airport conditions as well as the conditions of the roadways and public transportation around the airports.''

Mike Benjamin, CEO of flight-tracking site FlightView, said that given the impact on major airline hubs such as Newark, New York City and Boston, tens of thousands of fliers will be affected, and not just those based in the Northeast. "The cascading effect of flight delays ... will send a ripple effect across the entire country. So even if you're traveling in a warm-weather city, there's a strong chance your flight could be delayed or canceled.''

While he doesn't expect schedules to be back to normal before late Wednesday at the earliest, Benjamin says that the early cancellation of flights that were scheduled to take off one or two days later will help airlines and their passengers to regroup faster.

"Several years ago, airlines typically waited to the last minute to cancel flights, which left thousands of unhappy travelers stuck at the airport and unsatisfied with the service and transparency they were receiving,'' he says. "Instead of canceling at the last minute, airlines are now proactive. This strategy also helps airlines ensure that their planes aren't stuck at a snowed-in airport. The more control airlines have over their fleets, the faster it will be to get the schedule back on track."