Data shows travelers are returning to airports in record numbers before the pandemic hit the Fourth of July weekend, but they still face thousands of delayed and canceled flights.
Transportation Security Administration to examine 2,490,490 passengers at airport security checkpoints on Friday – the most since February 11, 2020, when the agency screened more than 2.5 million passengers, Agency spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein tweeted on Saturday.
On the same day, 464 US domestic and international flights were canceled and more than 6,600 flights were delayed. According to Flight Tracker FlightAwarewhich indicates that those accounted for 28.8% of the overall scheduled flights.
More than 930 flights within, within or outside the United States were postponed Sunday morning, and more than 200 were cancelled, According to FlightAware. New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport had the highest rates of delays and cancellations.
Fifty-three flights within, within or outside the United States have already been canceled for July 4 as of Sunday morning, according to FlightAware.
Sunday’s cancellations followed the postponement of 5,893 flights on Saturday and the cancellation of 655 flights within, to or outside the United States.
Cancellations and delays for flights on the Fourth of July weekend also follow Weekend Juneteenth and Father’s Daywhich included the busiest day of air travel in the year prior to July 1 and saw more than 3,300 flights canceled from Friday to Monday, and Memorial Day weekend, when about 2,700 flights were cancelled.
Cancellations escalate in the wake of staff shortages, and The shortage of pilots in particularThis prompted some airlines to preemptively cut thousands of flights for the summer season.
Airlines CEOs have Blame The FAA is understaffed for flight cancellations and delays, but in an official statement the FAA disputed that claim.
In an interview last month with the Associated Press, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he wanted to wait and see how air travel went over the Fourth of July weekend and the rest of the summer before deciding whether his department would take enforcement action against the airlines.
Saturday, Buttigieg chirp on how travelers can claim refunds for canceled flights, noting in a thread that his connecting flight was canceled Friday night and he demanded a refund of $112.
“Airlines offer mileage as compensation for some travel issues, and you can often negotiate this. This is between you and the airline,” Buttiegieg chirp. “But you are entitled to a refund for canceled flights – this is a requirement that we will continue to implement.”
FlightAware spokeswoman Kathleen Bang previously told NBC News that she expects the wave of cancellations to stabilize by the fall, as airlines reduce their schedules Aiming at Hiring more pilots and other employees of airlines.
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