Continental Airlines stops hundreds of flights due to imminent snowstorm

Although the snowflakes haven't yet began to fall in Newark, the impending storm has prompted Continental Airlines to abandon 485 flights scheduled for Wednesday, most of them in or out of its Newark hub, the airline said this evening.

In all, the storm led Continental to cancel more than 700 flights systemwide, as well as 244 today, said Andrew Ferraro, a Continental spokesman. The majority of the airline’s flights begin, stop or join at Continental’s northeastern hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, Ferraro said. Continental is Newark Liberty’s most important carrier.

Mass cancellations through and after the late December blizzard left thousands of passengers stranded at Newark Liberty and other regional airports. Many fliers said they went to the airport not perceptive whether their flight was canceled after being unable to discover its status by phone or online.

In advance of the latest storm, Ferraro said the airline started calling passengers by phone to inform them their flights had been canceled. Passengers who signed up for status alerts have also been informed by text message, Ferraro said.

“We proactively reached out to folks this instance,” Ferraro said.

As it had in advance of the blizzard and a lighter storm last week, Continental, along with its recently merged corporate cousin, United Airlines, permitted fliers to rebook flights scheduled for Monday night and Tuesday without fine.

Ferraro said United stopped 142 flights systemwide scheduled for Wednesday. American Airlines has stopped about 500 flights scheduled for Wednesday, said Tim Smith, an American spokesman. But Newark Liberty is not an American hub, Smith said, and only about 20 of those cancellations engage Newark.

Smith said American is also permitting passengers to alter their reservations without penalty throughout the storm.