Storm multiplied day-before-Thanksgiving flight cancellations

The busiest travel day of the year collided with an ugly storm that swept up from the Southeast to the East Coast, drifting into the nation’s busiest airspace.

The results were 667 canceled flights and 6,435 flights delayed at least 15 minutes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, according to the travel monitoring site Flightstats.com.

By comparison, only 189 flights were canceled and 3,560 were delayed last year on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, according to Flightstats.com.

On the busiest travel day of the year in 2011, 125 flights were canceled and 4,111 were delayed, the website reported.

Most of the cancellations and delays this year were on the East Coast at Massachusett’s Nantucket Memorial, Boston Logan International, Philadelphia International, and LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The storm was blamed for 11 deaths.

Los Angeles International Airport only had five canceled flights and 115 flights delayed more than 15 minutes, according to Flightstats.com.

Another storm, packing heavy snow, is expected to hit the Pacific Northwest on Sunday and Monday as holiday travelers make their way back home. The AAA predicted that about 33% of travelers will return on Sunday, with another 24% making the return trip on Monday.

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