What happens to flights the day after a blizzard and cancellations?

I live in Denver and current all flights out of DIA are cancelled today. I have the last flight out to O'Hare tomorrow w/ Southwest at 8:30pm.





Is my flight going to be pushed back because of the flights being cancelled today? Or will my flight still go off if the airport is ready by tomorrow night?





Also, will my flight most likely be delayed?|||First.... Please NOTE*** from Southwest.com





Denver (DEN) Winter Weather Advisory


Due to airport closure as a result of adverse weather conditions, Southwest has discontinued service to/from DEN until 8:00 p.m. (CDST) on Thursday, December 21.








We wholeheartedly appreciate your patience with our efforts to meet your air travel needs, and we invite you to please visit Flight Status Information and/or sign up for our convenient Flight Status Messaging to receive the latest information regarding your flight. We encourage our Ticketless Travel Customers to visit the Travel Center on southwest.com to cancel, change, and/or rebook their flight reservations. All ticketed Customers may contact Reservations (1-800-435-9792) for additional assistance.





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My answer:








There are many factors are involved on whether you flight will make it out on time tomorrow night. Since you have such a late flight you may be ok as this gives the airline all day to reposition planes from city to city in order to get everything back on schedule. It will also very if there are any delays due to de-icing of the planes and if all runways are operational by tomorrow evening.





The good thing however is that you will have first dibs at your flight and will not be put off to accommodate someone that may have gotten stuck due to today's cancellations.





Be sure to call the airlines on tomorrow before going to the airport to check on the status of your scheduled flight.





One last thing that you may run into. The airline may be looking for volunteers to give their seats up in order to accommodate other passengers. If you have a flexible schedule you could consider giving up your seat for denied boarding compensation. They may give you a voucher for a free future flight or even gift cards with cash value. If you are willing to take the first flight out in the morning. If they do offer this also see if they will give you a hotel room in the airport area so that it is easy for you to take an early flight out the next morning.





I hope this helps you.|||Ok, I'm updating my answer. We got a message for my airline that all flights into and out of Denver are expected to be delayed for all of tomorrow. Bad weather is expected to continue tomorrow. The airport will be shut down part of tomorrow still. Call your Southwest and check on your flight. Call again before you leave for the airport tomorrow - if you even decide to attempt it tomorrow. They might book you to another day for free today already if you want to. Proactive is always a good idea.|||For tomorrow, you should definitely expect major delays and lots of bumping IF the flights are going into Denver at all. No matter what day you travel, you should get to the airport and check in at the gate as early as possible--- not the usual 30 minutes they recommend, more like several hours. There are going to be a lot of stranded passengers all scrambling for any empty seats on planes and as tempers flare, gate attendants will start giving angry customers seats on flights where the passengers have not checked in yet. The more backed up the airport is, the worse it gets, and Southwest is notorious for bumping people off before their stated check-in window.





Once flights into Denver resume, you should expect delays and bumping for another 2-3 days until all the passengers whose flights were cancelled have finally gotten on a plane. And don't assume that, just because your flight was not cancelled, you won't be impacted. If your flight is cancelled and you need to rebook, select a flight 2 or 3 days after the airport opens back up (if you can) to avoid the mayhem and ugly mess this weather is creating.