Dealing With Earl

Well, Hurricane Early is finally affecting the East Coast. I only say finally because the local media here in Rhode Island has been obsessing over this story since Sunday.

Any hurricane is bound to screw up flights a bit. Fortunately, the effects don't seem all that bad. For example, Southwest is currently planning to cancel flights at Boston at 8:30 PM on Friday evening, but will pick back up at 8:50 AM on Saturday. So not that many flights are affected.

But even if the hurricane's effects aren't all that terrible - that's not much comfort if you're traveling in the next few hours. The best thing to do is to regularly check flight status so you're informed of any changes. Also make sure to check with airline to see if they are operating under any special procedures due to the weather event (which is pretty much the case for every airline).

Generally speaking, if you're traveling to or from a city where the airline has implemented its special policy, you'll be able to modify your reservation without having to pay a change fee or a change in fare. So if your plans are flexibile and you just don't want to deal with the hurricane, it might be a good idea to change up your plans.

Anyway - good luck to anyone traveling today and Saturday. As of this evening, Earl seems to be tracking a bit further east than originally forecasted, so that's good news for anyone traveling as more of the storm will be out to sea.