WASHINGTON: Americans returning home from holiday travel faced another day of airport chaos on Sunday, with more than 2,600 flights canceled due to bad weather or a boom in airline workforce. cases of covid,
Further disruptions are predicted for Monday, as the winter storm moves east.
At 10:00 p.m. (0300 GMT on Monday), more than 2,650 domestic flights or international flights starting or ending in the United States were canceled – with about 2,750 canceled during Saturday, the flight-tracking service said. Information about where to fly.
This figure represents more than half of the roughly 4,400 flights canceled around the world. About 8,600 US flights were delayed.
Southwest Airlines, one of the hardest-hit carriers, had to cancel some 400 flights on Sunday morning, a spokesperson said in an email to AFP, adding it expects further cancellations.
Passenger Nick Kagy was on his own after a Southwest flight was cancelled.
He wrote on Twitter, “Are you kidding me @southwestair.” “We waited about 3 hours to rebook because we couldn’t rebook online, and after things sorted out (not really completely) you canceled our second flight to take out from another airport. did it.”
On Saturday, bad weather, much of it associated with Winter Storm Frida, forced Southwest to cancel 490 flights, most of them in center-north states south of the Great Lakes and access to the Great Plains to the west. Went.
The result: intense disappointment for many travelers.
“This is crazy,” tweeted Haley, another Southwest passenger who was trying to get out of Chicago. “This is the third cancellation and still not home. Was supposed to come home 4 days ago!!!”
Chicago’s airports – a major transit hub – were hit hardest on Saturday, but as of Sunday, airports in Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Houston and Newark were also severely affected.
A woman named Kayla described her own ordeal: “I had to go home tomorrow morning at 10:30. And at this point I’ve canceled 3 flights and one is running so late that I lost my connection. ”
Across the world, air traffic has suffered since Christmas due to airline staffing issues linked to the spread of the highly contagious omicron Coronavirus Edition.
Many pilots and flight attendants have called sick after testing positive for the virus or being forced into quarantine because of contact with someone with the virus.
This has left carriers with staffing shortages and forced them to delay or cancel flights.
The latest travel chaos echoed a disappointing Christmas weekend, when nearly 7,500 flights were canceled around the world.
And rebooking canceled flights has been a big challenge for many.
a traveler, Eric Crawford, described his frustration at attempting to call a Delta airline agent for rescheduling.
“Estimated wait time of 22+ hours to speak with a representative about a canceled flight,” he said on Twitter, “is not the best form to start 2022.”
And Kaushik Boddu also offered this account on Twitter about his troubles with Alaska Air: “We were supposed to fly from Fairbanks to San Jose on December 30th, but our flights were rescheduled for today which eventually got canceled again. Done??? Long customer call wait hours, no response and flights not rebooked? Need help!!”
The travel crisis is expected to continue till Monday, the first working day of 2022.
Hurricane Frida will continue on a disruptive path eastward, meteorologists said, bringing snow across the mid-Atlantic coast from Washington to the north to Boston, Massachusetts.
About 1,400 Monday flights have already been canceled in or out of the United States.
Further disruptions are predicted for Monday, as the winter storm moves east.
At 10:00 p.m. (0300 GMT on Monday), more than 2,650 domestic flights or international flights starting or ending in the United States were canceled – with about 2,750 canceled during Saturday, the flight-tracking service said. Information about where to fly.
This figure represents more than half of the roughly 4,400 flights canceled around the world. About 8,600 US flights were delayed.
Southwest Airlines, one of the hardest-hit carriers, had to cancel some 400 flights on Sunday morning, a spokesperson said in an email to AFP, adding it expects further cancellations.
Passenger Nick Kagy was on his own after a Southwest flight was cancelled.
He wrote on Twitter, “Are you kidding me @southwestair.” “We waited about 3 hours to rebook because we couldn’t rebook online, and after things sorted out (not really completely) you canceled our second flight to take out from another airport. did it.”
On Saturday, bad weather, much of it associated with Winter Storm Frida, forced Southwest to cancel 490 flights, most of them in center-north states south of the Great Lakes and access to the Great Plains to the west. Went.
The result: intense disappointment for many travelers.
“This is crazy,” tweeted Haley, another Southwest passenger who was trying to get out of Chicago. “This is the third cancellation and still not home. Was supposed to come home 4 days ago!!!”
Chicago’s airports – a major transit hub – were hit hardest on Saturday, but as of Sunday, airports in Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Houston and Newark were also severely affected.
A woman named Kayla described her own ordeal: “I had to go home tomorrow morning at 10:30. And at this point I’ve canceled 3 flights and one is running so late that I lost my connection. ”
Across the world, air traffic has suffered since Christmas due to airline staffing issues linked to the spread of the highly contagious omicron Coronavirus Edition.
Many pilots and flight attendants have called sick after testing positive for the virus or being forced into quarantine because of contact with someone with the virus.
This has left carriers with staffing shortages and forced them to delay or cancel flights.
The latest travel chaos echoed a disappointing Christmas weekend, when nearly 7,500 flights were canceled around the world.
And rebooking canceled flights has been a big challenge for many.
a traveler, Eric Crawford, described his frustration at attempting to call a Delta airline agent for rescheduling.
“Estimated wait time of 22+ hours to speak with a representative about a canceled flight,” he said on Twitter, “is not the best form to start 2022.”
And Kaushik Boddu also offered this account on Twitter about his troubles with Alaska Air: “We were supposed to fly from Fairbanks to San Jose on December 30th, but our flights were rescheduled for today which eventually got canceled again. Done??? Long customer call wait hours, no response and flights not rebooked? Need help!!”
The travel crisis is expected to continue till Monday, the first working day of 2022.
Hurricane Frida will continue on a disruptive path eastward, meteorologists said, bringing snow across the mid-Atlantic coast from Washington to the north to Boston, Massachusetts.
About 1,400 Monday flights have already been canceled in or out of the United States.
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