Airlines in the United States canceled thousands of flights: passengers do not know what to do

Thousands of travelers were left stranded on August 2 after the country's two largest airlines canceled nearly 1500 flights. The edition told in more detail Daily Mail.

American Airlines canceled or delayed 1500 flights on Monday, August 2, more than half of its scheduled route, mostly from Dallas/Fort Worth.

According to FlightAware.com, the airline canceled 562 flights, accounting for 18% of all departures, and another 32% (979 flights) were delayed.

Spirit canceled 400 flights on Sunday and Monday (August 1-2), representing 30% of the company's scheduled flights nationwide. Orlando and Fort Lauderdale were hit hard, with 40% of Orlando flights canceled or delayed Monday and 37% in Fort Lauderdale.

Despite the rise in delta coronavirus infections, the United States has recently set another high bar for air travel, with more than 2,2 million people passing through airport checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

That's almost 11 more than July 000, the highest since February 18, 28.

However, flights on August 1 were still down 17% compared to the same date in 2019.

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The resurgence of tourist travel, coupled with bad weather, has led to flight delays and cancellations for airlines that have struggled to ramp up volume after being hit hard by the pandemic.

Airlines have fewer thousands of employees than they had before the pandemic.

The cancellation of flights on 2 August came the day after 1 flights arrived at least 7400 minutes late on 15 August and more than 900 were canceled.

Nearly half of Sunday's cancellations were at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, America's largest transportation hub, which was battered by afternoon and evening thunderstorms.

At least 5000 flights have been delayed on most days since early July, according to FlightAware. Southwest, American and Spirit are among the airlines with the most problems.

On Sunday and Monday, Southwest had a combined delay of more than 2500 flights, while American had more than 1600 delays.

Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Trade Committee, said the airlines were poorly managing their workforce and may not have met taxpayer funding targets.

“I am deeply concerned by recent reports highlighting labor shortages that have resulted in flight cancellations and delays,” she wrote in a July 16 letter to the CEOs of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Republic Airways and Allegiant Airlines .

Congress has allocated unprecedented federal funding at the request of airlines to support the aviation industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As passenger traffic has surged in recent weeks, new reports suggest some airlines are now unprepared to meet increased demand and are resorting to flight delays or cancellations,” the senator continued. “This reported labor shortage flies in the face of the purpose and spirit of the funding to help airlines weather the pandemic and keep employees on payroll so the industry can restore demand.”

Cantwell asked each airline to report on the use of federal funds and provide additional information on current and projected labor shortages.

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Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta, said in July that "the challenges of fully returning our airline to the level of service our customers expect and deserve are discouraging in light of the huge surge in demand we are experiencing."

The travel recovery has faced yet another public health threat, among other things, as the number of new cases of COVID-19 continues to rise.

The seven-day average rate of new infections in the United States is about 80 a day, nearly 000% more than two weeks ago, although the rise in deaths is much smaller.

Airline officials unanimously said that the number of reservations is not felt to be affected by the delta strain. Some said it could delay the return of business travel, which airlines hoped would pick up speed this fall.

Travelers used social media to express their frustration at airports in cities such as San Juan, Miami, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale while they waited for news from Spirit.

On Monday morning, August 2, an airline spokesman tweeted that there were delays.

In photographs and videos, travelers sit on the ground and complain that they are hot. They are hungry, sitting in crowded terminals.

One woman tweeted that the company's staff in Puerto Rico had left.

“They were temporary workers, so they literally took off their badges and said, 'Fuck it,'” she wrote. “Security escorted them through an underground tunnel from the airport for their own safety.”

Rumors of a pilot strike began to spread online before a Spirit spokesman denied the speculation and said the cancellation was due to weather and "other operational issues."

“We are working around the clock to get back to normal after some travel disruption over the weekend due to a number of weather and operational issues,” Sprit spokesman Eric Hofmeyer said.

“We had to proactively cancel some flights online, but most are still going ahead as planned,” he said.

After the cancellation, many passengers began to share their troubles on Twitter, describing long waits for refunds, missing luggage and other customer service issues.

One passenger even complained that he had been queuing for almost seven hours.

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“I was in line for almost 7 hours. I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm hot, and I'm finally close to the start,” he wrote.

“It’s a nightmare what’s happening! They delayed the flight twice, then canceled it and changed it to another airport. Then this flight was canceled too. All the airline staff left and refused to come back to help us,” another user tweeted.

One passenger said that he and his family were stranded overnight in Puerto Rico without any clothing or essentials for a one-year-old and three-year-old.

“We are stuck in Puerto Rico, where there are no employees, the company does not give luggage and money. We were stranded overnight without clothes or basic necessities for our three-year-old children and one-year-old baby. Still no answers,” he wrote on Twitter.

Caroline Fennell, a spokesman for Orlando Airport, suggested that COVID-19 was also instrumental in the canceled flights.

“I think the question of why this happens is the combination of weather with afternoon storms and lightning; airline staff are being cut due to COVID, not just here but across the country, and we have a huge surge in travel,” she explained. "It's the perfect storm."

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