Are flights normally cancelled if there's snow?

[H2025]

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 😢😥

No, not normally. They can clear the runway and de-ice planes. May be some delays though, good luck!

I've flown from Gatwick in snow.

Also some countries have snow all winter. I'm sure they'll be prepared with snow clearing equipment etc.

Have a lovely holiday. Hope it's somewhere warm 🌞

Sometimes there is a delay as flights might be late arriving from other snowbound destinations.....

I’ve flown out of Heathrow and Manchester in snow, you may have delays but hopefully they won’t be cancelled unless it’s really bad.

At the moment I would not expect a Monday AM flight to be cancelled but it all depends on how quickly the bad weather due (?) overnight into tomorrow clears through, and how much snow gets dumped…

If there is any disruption Sat >Sun AM the airlines and airports are going to want to get operations back to normal ASAP, certainly by Mon AM.

Edit to add: If snow is actively falling you are going to get delays, unfortunately sometimes you can get situations (even in places used to snow such as the US eastern seaboard) when the rate of snowfall beats the ability of the deicing teams to clear paved surfaces and aircraft…then everything has to stop.

Looking at the forecasts as they stand I think there will delays and there almost certainly will be some cancellations at some UK airports tonight/tomorrow.

Potentially, yes.

We’ve had flights cancelled for snow in UK because they usually cannot get as many flights taking off and landing, so can be luck of the draw

DH's cousin had a flight from Glasgow to Bristol cancelled once because of snow at Bristol. We had only had an inch, which made it impossible for the snow ploughs to clear as it wasn't deep enough for the scooper on the front.

I recall sitting on a plane in a massive snow storm at Minneapolis as they de-iced the wings, it felt like we were in a huge car wash!

For info snow is one of those weather phenomenon aviators don’t around with, not simply because of snow and ice on taxiways etc, but because of the effects snow/ice can have on aircraft performance.

It can take 15-20 minutes maybe more to clean off and then treat a large aircraft with anti-icing fluid, so if it’s actively snowing the rate of aircraft movement slows right down.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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…

@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.

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

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.

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.

@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…

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.

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