And then it did.
This week’s storm, which dumped more than 18 inches of snow on Boston, exposed some of the cutbacks airlines have made in recent years.
Carriers have reduced the number of flights, which means many of them are operating at close to capacity and it can take longer to rebook an influx of passengers on the few seats available after flights are canceled. Airlines also have closed call centers as more passengers turn to the Internet to book flights, which can lead to longer waiting times.
“Airlines have cut everything so far that there’s little flexibility to recover during severe weather emergencies,’’ said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst.
Over the past few days, thousands of passengers have been directed to contact airlines by phone — instead of crowding airport ticket counters — to reschedule flights that were canceled due to the nor’easter that hit New England the day after Christmas.
But because of the unusually high volume of calls — due in part to the busy holiday travel week and the fact the storm hit several major metropolitan areas — some travelers were left dangling on hold or were disconnected. Rebooking online is not recommended by some airlines because change fees can’t immediately be waived.
At Logan International Airport last night, the majority of flights to and from New York were canceled, and Logan was experiencing a few delays, but most connections were back to normal.
JetBlue’s two biggest operations are at Logan and at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York — both hit hard by the storm — so its system has been strained by the influx of calls.
On top of that, JetBlue canceled all its flights out of JFK after 8 p.m. yesterday because of delays and poor runway conditions.
“Bottom line: The system is currently overloaded,’’ said JetBlue spokesman Mateo Lleras, who said the phone system is supposed to transfer calls to a hold queue, but if the transfer doesn’t work after a few attempts, it drops the call.
