Finally, on-time flight schedules for holiday fliers

Fliers are catching a break today after a week of air travel chaos.

Flight schedules are running on time Friday at most airports, a welcome development for holiday travelers after a pair of winter storms prompted airlines to cancel more than 4,000 flights during Christmas week.

"We're at a full schedule and weather -- for the most part -- will be advantageous ... ," Delta spokesman Morgan Durant says in an e-mail to Today in the Sky.

Still, today's good news for fliers comes as yet another winter storm makes its way toward airports in the busy Northeast. Despite that, airlines say they're not expecting as big a disruption from this storm -- the third storm to hit the East since Dec. 20.

"We're monitoring the storm closely but we think the impact will be less than the week's earlier storm," US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher says in an e-mail to Today in the Sky.

If problems develop, most airlines are advising customers to monitor their websites for rebooking waivers that allow customers to make changes -- with some restrictions -- to avoid the storm.

"Remember, Delta issues change fee waivers ahead of weather-driven cancellations," says Delta spokesman Durant. "This allows customers to change their plans well in advance of arriving at the airport. Some choose to fly earlier or later ... ."

The only trouble spot being reported today via the Federal Aviation Administration's flight delay map as of noon ET is at Fort Lauderdale, where flights face delays of about half an hour because of an ongoing runway construction project.

The delay map at flight-tracking service FlightStats.com shows a similar picture, with on-time arrivals at most big airports. Flightstats shows only a few locations with moderate delays as of noon ET.

FligthAware.com, another of the prominent flight-tracking services, also shows few delays at most U.S. airports today.

Looking ahead, the toughest task for airlines might be finding available seats for the tens of thousands of passengers who have had their flight plans change during the past week.

With airplanes flying with near-record number of seats filled, it could take days for airlines find enough unsold seats on their most-popular routes.