Hurricane Sandy is supposed to hit the East Coast tonight. So far 1,800 flights were canceled yesterday and 7,000 flights were canceled for Monday morning. Flights were canceled from New York, Philadelphia and Washington. And the numbers are staggering: so far 750 flights have been canceled on United;  520 on JetBlue, 465 on Delta, 270 on American.

Airlines had initially said that you can rebook your ticket without a penalty as early as November 4, but it might not pay to opt for the earliest date. It takes an airline 36 to 48 hours to get back on schedule after just one day of flight cancellations. In fact many airlines will not able to fully handled the capacity of all the passengers until November 7.

To make it easier to get back on track, airlines have waved both the change and the cancellations fees. Many passengers are opting for change fees since they simply can’t get rebooked on their original airline. Right now, it’s looking like flights will resume by Thursday and Friday for ticketed passengers, but many passengers will be stranded until Sunday or Monday.

For more information check out,

• 5 Tips for Rescheduling Flights During Hurricane Sandy
• 4 Ways to Prepare for Travel During Hurricane Sandy
• Travel Trip: Travel During Hurricane Season
• Avoiding Delays from Severe Weather Travel