airline question

Both. They'd sqeeze as many stranded passengers into current (new) flights and divert some "empty" traffic to NY as well. Not sure where the diverted/empty jets will come from though.

^ I'm guessing here but I'd like to think it make sense.

Given my explanation, I don't see why someone arriving into NY would be bumped. It'd more likely be those leaving NY bumped out of over subscribed seats. BUt then again, someone backlogged would be the one that would have to wait for available seats on flights out.

FWIW, I have a couple guests that were scheduled to leave NYC and arrive in Seattle today and they havent' been bumped.

Typically the persons with current seats are good to go. They'll offer vouchers etc to standby or delay, but it's the poor souls whose flights were cancelled that are left with hoping to eventually get on somewhere. Bumping everybody else just spreads he problem further.

I thought I heard some airlines were considering extra flights to relieve the backlog.

This is pretty much the first big storm in NYC where I haven't had a flight cancelled due to airport closings. Every other time, existing reservations were fully honored and passengers on cancelled flights got priority on empty seats and standby, at best.