Delta waives travel fees to avoid holiday weekend travel

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Delta waives travel fees to avoid holiday weekend travel

Do you have any concerns about flying during a busy holiday weekend? Delta is allowing customers to change flights for free, so they can rebook trips before or after potentially challenging weekend days without paying a higher last minute fare or a change fee.

The waiver will apply across Delta's entire network from July 1 to July 4, as long as customers travel between the same origins and destinations by July 8.

Delta expects to face some challenges this holiday weekend despite efforts by the company and its staff to reset the carrier's operations.

The waiver is being issued to give Delta customers more flexibility in order to plan around busy travel times, weather forecasts and other variables without worrying about a possible cost to do so, the airline said in a statement.

The waivers are usually limited to specific cities or regions, and airlines usually waive fees and fare differences so customers can avoid flying during storms or other disruptions. The main benefit for passengers would be the ability to book a new flight if they can find a seat without paying a higher last-minute fare, as a result of the pandemic.

Delta's broad waiver highlights the challenges that travelers could encounter across the country this weekend.

It has been a rough start to the summer for airline passengers. Customers have complained of long lines, long lines and hourslong waits for help by phone, and cancellations and delays have been mounting.

Airports are getting busier. The number of people passing through the U.S. airports on Sunday reached its highest level since February 2020, before appetite for travel dried up due to the Pandemic, according to the Transportation Security Administration. It can be hard for airlines to reaccommodate travelers when their plans are disrupted, with flights about as full as before the epidemic.

Airlines have cited a confluence of issues to explain the problems, including staffing shortfalls throughout the industry and air traffic control facilities, as well as bad weather.

With demand booming, some airlines have found that they scheduled too many flights this summer to operate them all reliably, and several have scaled back. Major airlines have canceled some 15% of planned flights this summer from what they expected to operate at the beginning of the year, according to the trade group Airlines for America. Delta has said it would trim about 100 flights a day in July and August.

Delta has had difficulty operating more reliably than its rivals, and has staked its reputation on operating more reliably. The airline has canceled hundreds of flights over the past two weekends, according to FlightAware.