Thousands of flights delayed, canceled on holiday weekend

126
2
Thousands of flights delayed, canceled on holiday weekend

There have already been hundreds of cancellations and delays on Friday, which kicks off the long holiday weekend for those celebrating the Fourth of July.

More than 1,200 flights in, out of and across the United States were delayed and another 238 were canceled as of 10: 30 a.m. The flight-tracking website FlightAware says it will be open on Friday.

It comes at a time when an influx of people is expected to hit the road. Between Friday and Monday, the AAA projected that 47.9 million people will travel, and about 3.55 million of them are expected to fly.

Over the past week, thousands of flights have been disrupted because carriers have cut 15% of the flights they planned for over the peak summer months, June through August, in order to make the remaining flights more reliable, said Nicholas Calio, CEO of Airlines for America.

In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Calio said that they had accelerated robust hiring and training programs in all areas and increased pay for many positions.

With so much disruption, public officials are calling for a change in the industry.

The American people are sick of airlines ripping them off, cancelling flights at the last minute and delaying flights for hours on end, Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted Wednesday.

Sanders even called on Buttigieg to fine airlines $55,000 per passenger for every flight cancellation they know can't be fully staffed. A fine of $15,000 should be imposed per passenger when a domestic flight is delayed more than two hours for non-weather related reasons, according to Sanders.

The disruptions started well before this week. Airlines had widespread cancellations over the Memorial Day holiday weekend due to worker shortages and bad weather.

Kathleen Bangs told FOX Business that things didn't get any easier over Father's Day and the Juneteenth holiday weekend. According to Bangs, the website saw a series of delays and even higher cancellations. She said cancellations reached 6% and 5% on Thursday and Friday of the weekend.

According to FlightAware data, there were over a weekend from Friday to Sunday.