Bad weather delays area flights

A miserable morning filled with rain and driving winds is causing delays at metropolitan area airports that may inconvenience air travelers even more than the new body scanners.

Delays on arrivals at LaGuardia Airport are averaging more than 2 1/2 hours, while delays at Newark-Liberty are averaging almost 2 1/2 hours, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. There are no reported delays at Kennedy.

One arriving flight at Long Island-MacArthur Airport is delayed, and there are minor delays for two scheduled departures.

Departures at LaGuardia, meanwhile, are running up to 45 minutes and about 1 hour and 15 minutes at Newark.

The tote board at MacArthur reports that Southwest Flight 636 from Baltimore / Washington, D.C., is about 25 minutes late. That plane was scheduled to fly to Chicago / Midway, then Orange County and Oakland departing at 9:35 a.m. It is now scheduled to depart at 10 a.m.

US Airways flight 3831 to Philadelphia was scheduled to depart at 11:34 a.m. It is now scheduled for 12:19 p.m.

The FAA is reporting delays in Philadelphia of 54 minutes, which may increase as weather worsens.