Are flights normally cancelled if there's snow?

Before getting to 😪I still think you (and maybe some other posters) need to keep on mind you are not flying until Monday, so I’ll still stand by what I posted in my first reply..

1. Chances are very much much that there will be disruption overnight tonight (Saturday) and into tomorrow (Sunday).

2.Airlines try to ring fence the disruption so that it only affects those directly involved on the day, they don’t want the disruption spilling into subsequent days, in this case Monday. To do that there will be cancellations overnight/tomorrow done in part to ensure aircraft/crews are in position to pick up the planned schedule once the weather does pick up.

3.A lot will depend on how well the weather clears up later tomorrow, so there are no guarantees but as it stands IMO you are in much much better position than anybody booked on a flight overnight tonight or tomorrow AM.

@RobinHood19

This is not very accurate as Ryanair mainly holds bases at UK airports, so chances are that’s where your plane will come from, actually.

Very true, and don’t forget the European bases, but on that subject…

This blast of winter weather overnight also looks like bringing very poor conditions to airports in north eastern France, Belgium and Holland, the forecast for most of the Irish airports is relatively benign (I emphasize “relatively”.)

Where are you flying to ? There's lots they can do to get the planes off the ground but then you have the destination airport and whether they are experiencing bad weather also.

This is not very accurate as Ryanair mainly holds bases at UK airports, so chances are that’s where your plane will come from, actually.

You can follow your aircraft on Flightradar24 but sometimes this info is not released until a few hours before, and always subject to change anyway.

I fly 8-10 times a year with them and never an issue. Don’t worry in advance about something you can’t control.

Check what it's like at the Irish airport as that likely where it will be coming from

It may be the big risk is getting to the airport on time.

My flight was postponed from Gatwick one year on Christmas due to snow at Dublin airport, it was coming from Dublin to do Gatwick Málaga, so you need to check where your flight is coming from as well. We got off about 5 days later and spent new years with family instead

When we flew home from Lanzarote 2 years ago it was Ryanair who cancelled all flights back to Stansted that day.
We were flying with Jet2 and they managed to get everyone back, just with a few delays.

True, but I don't think we managed to spot any cancelled non-Ryanair flights.

Stansted is 90% Ryanair flights. Just from a mathematical point of view, they will account for most of the cancellations as they also account for almost all flights from that airport.

@lanthanum

I'm guessing possibly other airlines pay a premium that gives them a higher priority

Don’t know what Ryanair’s policy is but for info generally the de-icing process costs thousands of £ (narrow body) up to potentially £10,000 plus (wide body), per go, per aircraft…

When we delivered in-laws to Stansted in snow, their flight was okay but many others were delayed/cancelled. As with the other time we hit problems at Stansted, it seemed to be the Ryanair flights that were being affected - I'm guessing possibly other airlines pay a premium that gives them a higher priority?

We once sat at Belfast International watching the de-icer truck working its way along a row of planes, while a plough trundled up and down the runway. It took about 20 minutes to de-ice a smaller plane, and 40 minutes for a larger one.

Not surprised TBH the Leeds Bradford forecast overnight (runs until 0600 UTC) is, to paraphrase, grim with general snow and and embedded within that general grimness is (plain language version of airport forecast follows)

Temporarily from 05 at 00 UTC to 05 at 06 UTC
Wind 15 kt from the East with gusts up to 25 kt
Visibility: 0300 m
heavy snow, fog, Low drifting snow,

I guess the airport/airlines are hoping for an improvement after 0600 to allow clearing up and operations at/by midday.

DH is flying from Leeds tomorrow and has just had a text saying his flight is delayed from 9am to 12pm.

@H2025

I thing things might be getting confusing because you’ve actually asked two questions in your OP:

”Are flights normally cancelled if there’s snow?”

It depends, if there’s active snowfall, it’s a definite possibility.

“Going on a MUCH needed holiday on Monday but I'm in NW England where snow is expected. Should I expect my flights to be cancelled”

Given the current forecasts don’t predict much active snowfall on Monday, probably not.

I fly very frequently and have flown in and out of snowstorms several times.

Yes, flights to get cancelled, but unless the storm is significantly severe, it’s purely because of capacity at the airport. In freezing temperatures, planes must be de-iced before they take off, and at busy airports with say, 20 departures an hour, they won’t have 20 machines so that each plane can still get away on time. They’ll have 2 or 3. De-icing takes about 10 minutes (plus you need to queue for it), and if you only have 2 machines available for a busy hub - looking at you Frankfurt - you are obviously going to reduce your take off rates simply because there’s no capacity to de-ice everyone on time.

When this happens, they start cancelling flights - mostly short-haul - purely because the delays would make it impossible for the plane to come and go on a reasonable timeline so they “consolidate” many flights to at least have an attempt at getting some out on time.

Delays and cancellations can be expected. However, if the airport is prepared, has cleared runways, the air warms and you’re flying out of a smaller airport not a hub, your chances are good at making it out. It’s just an unknown…

In the U.K. they do. Frequently. I was cabin crew at Heathrow for over two decades, they cancelled things at the first forecast of snow, even if it didn’t arrive. It was embarrassing! Especially if we flew sun from places like Chicago, thst kept flights going under incredibly bad conditions, then you landed at Heathrow to a dusting and there was a four hour delay getting steps to the aircraft or bags off! They usually cancel short haul flights first.

Agreed, ATM the forecast for Monday looks much better than overnight tonight into Sun AM, if that holds good I still think there’s a good chance the OPs flight will operate normally, or close to normally

We were away 2 years ago and it snowed the day we were due to fly home
Stanstead was shut for 12 hours overnight and flights cancelled or diverted so they could clear the runway

Our flight took off about 2 hours late and when we landed there was still snow.

Other airlines (mainly Ryanair and EasyJet) cancelled all their flights for 24 hours and people in our hotel were left to their own devices to rebook other flights or pay yo keep their rooms another night.

Well it depends where you’re flying from. If Manchester or Liverpool I think you’re likely to be OK. There’s not much snow forecast - it’s mainly sleet - and temperatures will be a few degrees C above freezing after midday on Sunday.

If you’re going from Leeds Bradford there’s more snow and lower temperatures forecast.

Depends on how much snow … if it’s really bad Crew & Ground staff may not be able to get to the airport.

They can be. It just depends on how much snow is falling at the time of your flight and how icy the runway is.

It will depend on how busy the airport is and how used to dealing with snow.

Runways must be cleared and planes de-iced before take off,

My nearest airport is Aberdeen. It’s rare for snow to cancel outbound flights, but can mean delays.