Trust me , lived it for the last few days. Very surreal to walk through a packed terminal and look out and see the ramp virtually deserted with aircraft at every gate. Some carriers had 5 hour holdouts. The 3 hour rule is what drove many of our cancelations to avoid the fines. We did have one flight wait almost 4 hours for a gate however it was international so allowed 4 hours.
FAR 117 did not help the situation. She rolled in with near perfect timing. It's rumored that one or two airlines simply ignored 117. As far as I could tell we flew 117 to the letter of the law and it helped kill us in JFK that night. Crews finally loaded and ready to push timed out as the tugs were hooked up.
It's not over yet with bad weather in several major hubs.