The Nor’easter Wiped Out a Quarter of Boston Logan’s Saturday Flights, and Kept Jet Fuel Ships From Reaching the Airport

The nor’easter canceled 261 flights at Boston Logan on Saturday, September 26, 2026, about a quarter of the day’s departures and arrivals, according to FlightAware. Before 3 a.m. on Sunday, another 171 Logan flights had already been canceled.

Delta Air Lines warned on Saturday that “a significant number of cancellations are expected for BOS on Sunday, Sept. 27.” The storm also kept fuel ships from reaching the airport, so airlines are flying extra fuel into Boston.

Wind, not rain, grounded the flights

FlightAware counted 134 canceled departures and 127 canceled arrivals at Boston Logan on Saturday. Delta canceled 114 flights across its network that day. New York got off lightly by comparison, with 15 departure cancellations at LaGuardia and 8 at JFK.

Logan’s weather station recorded a peak gust of 53 mph (85 km/h) at 8:21 p.m. Saturday, according to National Weather Service observations. CBS Boston reported that wind, more than the forecast 3 inches of rain, was the biggest challenge for flights.

That fits a pattern: rain on its own rarely cancels a flight, while strong, gusty wind is one of the conditions that does.

The islands fared worst. FlightAware showed 62% of Saturday’s departures canceled at Nantucket, 77% at Martha’s Vineyard and 52% at Hyannis, and Cape Air canceled 144 flights across its network, 37% of its schedule.

Why airlines are flying fuel into Boston

Logan depends on fuel ships, and the storm kept them away. “Due to the forecasted nor’easter, fuel ships cannot make their way up to Boston until it is over,” a Massport spokesperson told PYOK.

“We have enough fuel to get through the weekend, but just to be safe, the fueling consortium here is asking airlines to bring extra fuel in their aircraft to lighten the fueling load here,” the spokesperson added.

Delta confirmed that the weather has “constrained fuel deliveries into BOS.” It is flying aircraft into Boston with extra fuel for their next departure and trucking in additional fuel where it can.

Carrying fuel for a second leg is called tankering. It is not free: the extra weight makes the aircraft burn more fuel, and emit more carbon dioxide, on the way in. When the destination’s own supply is tight, it lets departures keep flowing while drawing less from the airport’s tanks.

What passengers can do

Delta, JetBlue and American have each issued weather waivers covering Boston, and each drew different dates. Delta’s runs longest, and American’s change deadline falls today.

Airline	Travel dates covered	Rebook for travel by	Ticket must be issued by
Delta (Boston)	Sept 26 to 29	Oct 2	Sept 25
JetBlue	Sept 25 to 27	Sept 30	Before Sept 24
American	Sept 25 to 27	Sept 29 (change by Sept 27)	Sept 23

Delta says it rebooks affected passengers automatically on the next available itinerary. JetBlue says customers whose flights were canceled can take a refund to the original form of payment instead.

That refund is not a courtesy. Under the Department of Transportation’s refund rule, an airline must give a full refund, taxes and fees included, for any canceled flight when the passenger turns down the rebooking or credit on offer.

It goes back in the original form of payment, within seven business days for a credit card purchase and 20 calendar days for other payment types. The storm being the cause does not change that.

Meals and hotels are a different matter. The airline commitments on DOT’s dashboard cover disruptions within the airline’s control, and a new federal rule on delay causes changed how carriers report which is which.

When it should ease

The National Weather Service canceled its High Wind Warning for the Boston area at 2:46 a.m. on Sunday, though Logan was still reporting gusts near 39 mph (63 km/h) half an hour earlier. A coastal flood warning runs until 8 p.m. Sunday, and a flood watch until 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Sunday’s cancellations so far were made before the day’s flying began, so the final count will depend on how fast the wind drops. On fuel, Massport has said only that the ships will come once the storm is over.