Passengers queue to pass through North Security at the Denver International Airport Main Terminal on Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Denver. David Zalubowski / The Associated Press
Airline travelers are not only facing the impact of stickers this Memorial Day weekend, the start of the summer travel season. They are also dealing with a lot of flight cancellations.
More than 1,500 flights were canceled at 9:50 p.m. EDT on Saturday, according to the FlightAware flight tracking website. That followed after more than 2,300 cancellations on Friday.
Delta Air Lines suffered the most among U.S. airlines, with more than 250 flights, or 9 percent of its operations, eliminated on Saturday. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, home to Delta and its largest center, was severely delayed in travel. On Saturday, 5% of flights were canceled, while 16% were delayed.
Delta said in an email to The Associated Press that Saturday’s cancellations were due to bad weather and “air traffic control actions,” and said it was trying to cancel flights by at least 24 hours. in advance this Memorial Day weekend.
Delta announced on its website on Thursday that from July 1 to August 7, it would reduce service by about 100 daily departures, mainly to parts of the United States and Latin America that Delta serves frequently.
“More than at any time in our history, the various factors that currently affect our operation: weather and air traffic control, staffing of vendors, increased rates of COVID-19 cases that contribute unscheduled absences are higher than expected in some working groups) are leading to an operation that does not consistently conform to the standards that Delta has set for the industry in recent years, “said the director of Delta customer experience, Allison Ausband, in a post.
Airlines and tourist destinations anticipate monstrous crowds this summer as travel restrictions are eased and pandemic fatigue outweighs the lingering fear of contracting COVID-19 while traveling.
Many forecasters believe that the number of travelers will equal or even exceed the levels of the good days before the pandemic. However, airlines have thousands fewer employees than in 2019, and this has sometimes contributed to widespread flight cancellations.
People who are only now booking travel for the summer are experiencing the shock of the sticker.
Domestic airline fares for the summer exceed $ 400 on average for a round trip, 24 percent more than this time in 2019, before the pandemic, and 45 percent more than a year ago, according to travel data firm Hopper.