Too COLD to fly? Don't laugh!

[Harambe]

Has anyone had a flight delayed just for frigid weather? We are flying out Wednesday and it is supposed to get up to a whopping 8 degrees! No snow or precipitation, just COLD!

What do you think?

 

[prncess674]

Planes can be delayed if they must de-ice the plane but as long as the runways are cleared of snow and there is not bad weather (heavy rain or snow, etc) then cold weather alone will not cancel a flight but it may be slightly delayed due to de-icing

 

[inkkognito]

Snow doesn't even have to be too hard to cause a delay. On a recent flight out of Midway, the temp was frigid so the plane had to be deiced. It was snowing but not bad at all, so I never dreamed it would have an effect on our flight. But the airport had to be shut down temporarily so the runways could be shoveled. I expect that the wind direction might have been limiting the runways they could use. Then, once the shoveling was done, we had to wait for deicing again. All told, we were delayed a little over two hours.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[sgtdisney]

As the others have mentioned, snow or ice can cause delays. Sometimes an aircraft will need to be de-iced a number of times before departure because the de-icing proceedure must take place within a certain amount of time before take-off. In regard to cold weather alone causing delays, that would be pretty rare. The cold itself does not hamper the actual operation of the aircraft.

 

[Eeyore1954]

I fly a lot for business and never had a flight delayed due to cold. Rain, sleet, snow, hail, lightning... all that has caused delays. But if it is clear and cold -- should be no problem. In Chicago in January, we'd consider 8 degrees practically BALMY!!

 

[MickeyisanNDfan]

I live in Boston right under the Logan flight path and they were all taking off right over my head last week in the single digit weather.

 

[Geoff_M]

Snow and ice can be a problem at ground level, but unless you're near the South Pole, temperature shouldn't be an issue. I've flown on our corporate shuttle jet a few times and one of them has a temp gauge in the passenger compartment that shows outside temperature. At altitude I remember seeing readings that were in the range of -50 F. That was perfectly normal.

 

[blanq]

My family was delayed at MSP last year, in March, for de-icing. We fly fairly frequently, and living in the frigid Midwest I am surprised we never experienced this before. Anyway, it was a fascinating experience. We were in this huge line of planes, as they all needed de-icing, and it was fun to watch the whole process. We then took off right after the de-icing process. I don't think that the cold affects planes, (we have flown when it is well below zero here in Minnesota) but other weather elements can delay a flight.

Well Harambe, we will be flying out just a couple days after you are. We are looking forward to leaving this cold for some WDW fun!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I have flown in and out of Siberia and cold alone (nor ice or snow ) effected our flight! Do not worry about the cold temperatures, you'll be fine.

 

[Harambe]

Who knew! You guys are all so smart! I now can't even think of something to worry about.

Thanks, everyone! And Blanq - looks like nice weather in WDW for our stay (not a lot of rain, anyway!).