Fourth of July travel weekend draws thousands of cancellations, delays

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Fourth of July travel weekend draws thousands of cancellations, delays

As the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches, airline passengers are being forced to pay more for airfare due to a number of flight cancellations and delays.

More than 1,600 trips in, out of and across the U.S. have already been delayed by noon Eastern Time on Monday, according to Flight-Tracking site FlightAware.

Over 730 flights were completely scrapped as of noon Eastern Time. Delta and United Airlines were the leading U.S. major passenger carriers in the total number of flight disruptions.

Delta already had 200 canceled flights by noon Monday, while United had just over 120 canceled flights, according to FlightAware.

Over the weekend, hundreds of cancellations and delays were faced by travelers. There were over 6,800 delays and over 800 cancellations across the U.S. on Sunday.

Delta teams continue to manage compounding factors that affect our operations, including higher-than- planned unscheduled absences in some of our work groups, weather and air traffic control constraints, according to Delta Air Lines, according to FOX Business.

Delta said that cancellations of a flight are always our last resort, and we sincerely apologize to our customers for any disruption to their travel plans.

The cancellations of Monday are largely driven by weather conditions, according to Delta. The carrier said it posted a waiver Sunday evening.

A concerned traveler told American Airlines on Twitter that thunderstorms were causing disruptions at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

It's a harsh reality for the record number of travelers hitting airports across the nation this summer to take long-awaited trips.

The Transportation Security Administration TSA projected passenger volumes will match and may occasionally surpass those of 2019 for the first time since the epidemic began. On Monday, TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said more than 2.46 million people were screened at airports nationwide on Sunday. The highest checkpoint volume reported since February 11, 2020, when more than 2.5 million people were screened, according to Farbstein.

Airlines already struggled with bad weather and shortages of workers, especially pilots, leading to widespread cancellations over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, which usually kicks off the summer travel season.

Over 47 million people are expected to travel for the Fourth of July holiday weekend in a few days. There are about 3.55 million people expected to fly from Friday to Monday.