As the pandemic calms down, more travelers decide to travel by air. But during the July 4th weekend, many angry passengers faced canceled or delayed because of the huge amounts of number of people traveling, and pilot shortages.
On Friday, July 1st, the Transportation Security Administration screened 2,490,490 passengers at security checkpoints in airports. This is the second most passengers in recent history, beat only by the 2.5 million passengers screened on February 11, 2020.
Also, on Friday, airlines canceled a total of 464 domestic and international flights, and delayed 6,600 more. These numbers represent more than 28% of the overall scheduled flights. Sunday followed Saturday’s total of 5,893 delays and 655 cancellations into or out of the US.
A staffing shortage is causing this disaster, particularly a pilot shortage. This has led airlines to cancel thousands of flights in the summer season. From Friday to Monday on the July 4th weekend, more than 3,300 flights were canceled, and on the Memorial Day weekend, there were about 2,700 flights canceled.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is considering taking action against airlines once he sees how air travel for the rest of the summer goes. Buttigieg also tweeted advice for flyers with cancelled flight; “Sometimes an airline will offer you points or miles as compensation, but you are entitled to a cash refund when your flight is canceled. When deciding whether to accept miles, it’s helpful to know their value, which varies, but often is estimated at 1 to 1.5 cents per mile.”
The spokeswoman of FlightAware, Kathleen Bangs said that the wave of cancellations would stabilize by the fall season. Airlines will reduce their schedules and hire more pilots and airline workers, which will get more passengers to where they need to be.
Source:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/record-july-4th-travel-weekend-thousands-flights-delayed-cancelled-rcna36497
On Friday, July 1st, the Transportation Security Administration screened 2,490,490 passengers at security checkpoints in airports. This is the second most passengers in recent history, beat only by the 2.5 million passengers screened on February 11, 2020.
Also, on Friday, airlines canceled a total of 464 domestic and international flights, and delayed 6,600 more. These numbers represent more than 28% of the overall scheduled flights. Sunday followed Saturday’s total of 5,893 delays and 655 cancellations into or out of the US.
A staffing shortage is causing this disaster, particularly a pilot shortage. This has led airlines to cancel thousands of flights in the summer season. From Friday to Monday on the July 4th weekend, more than 3,300 flights were canceled, and on the Memorial Day weekend, there were about 2,700 flights canceled.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is considering taking action against airlines once he sees how air travel for the rest of the summer goes. Buttigieg also tweeted advice for flyers with cancelled flight; “Sometimes an airline will offer you points or miles as compensation, but you are entitled to a cash refund when your flight is canceled. When deciding whether to accept miles, it’s helpful to know their value, which varies, but often is estimated at 1 to 1.5 cents per mile.”
The spokeswoman of FlightAware, Kathleen Bangs said that the wave of cancellations would stabilize by the fall season. Airlines will reduce their schedules and hire more pilots and airline workers, which will get more passengers to where they need to be.
Source:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/record-july-4th-travel-weekend-thousands-flights-delayed-cancelled-rcna36497
