No way Jose: new hurricane threat to US travel

  After meandering about the Atlantic for days, Hurricane Jose could be headed for the upper East Coast of the United States — The Tri-State region of New York, New Jersey. Connecticut and New England. According to projections by the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the center of the so-far minimal hurricane could hit land around 2 a.m. Wednesday. Yet that’s just the center of the storm. Tropical winds could extend inland in the Carolinas, Virginia and Maryland and that's what concerns airlines. Potentially in Jose’s wind field are some major airline hubs. South to North here are those hubs, with a couple of notable O&D (origin & destination) airports thrown in.

•  Raleigh/Durham (RDU): dominant carrier American Airlines.
•  Washington Dulles (IAD): dominant carrier United Airlines.
•  Reagan Washington National (DCA): no dominant carrier
•  Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall (BWI): dominant carrier Southwest Airlines
•  Newark Liberty International (EWR): dominant carrier United.
•  New York John F. Kennedy International (JFK):  dominant carriers JetBlue, Delta Air Lines.
•  New York LaGuardia (LGA): dominant carrier Delta.
•  Boston Logan International (BOS): dominant carriers JetBlue, Delta.

As of Saturday morning U.S Eastern Time, airlines had not waived change fees and the like for the coming days. That could change if, as expected, the storm stays offshore and then turns north. The Weather Channel reported on  Saturday morning: “Jose is currently located 550 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and is moving northwest as 5 to 10 mph.” At this time, the majority of forecast guidance still shows Jose curling north, then northeast. That’s enough deviation to avoid direct impact on land. Again, it’s the wind field that airline dispatchers will likely have to cope with. Check with your airline, or FlightAware.com, to see if your flight’s been held up or scrubbed altogether. International flights out of or into Washington, New York and Boston could feel the impact of Jose beginning Tuesday or Wednesday. The potential threat from Jose comes as airlines are still  counting the cost of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.