Airline travelers aren’t just facing a price surprise this Memorial Day weekend, the start of the summer travel season. They are also dealing with a lot of flight cancellations.
More than 1,200 flights were canceled as of 2 p.m. ET Saturday, according to the flight tracking website. FlightAware. That followed more than 2,300 cancellations on Friday.
Delta Air Lines suffered the most among US airlines, with more than 240 flights, or 9% of its operations, eliminated on Saturday. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, where Delta is headquartered and has its largest hub, was hit hard by travel delays. On Saturday, 5% of flights there were cancelled, while 7% were delayed.
Delta noted in an email to The Associated Press that Saturday’s cancellations were due to bad weather and “air traffic control actions,” noting that it is trying to cancel flights at least 24 hours in advance this Memorial Day weekend.
Delta announced on its website Thursday that, from July 1 to August 7, it would cut service by about 100 daily departures, primarily to parts of the US and Latin America where Delta frequently operates.
“More than at any time in our history, the various factors currently impacting our operation — air traffic and weather control, vendor staffing, rising COVID case rates contributing to higher unscheduled absences than planned in some task forces) are resulting in an operation that is not consistently up to the standards that Delta has set for the industry in recent years,” said Allison Ausband, director of customer experience for Delta, in a post.
Airlines and tourist destinations are anticipating monster crowds this summer as travel restrictions ease and pandemic fatigue overcomes lingering fears of contracting COVID-19 while traveling.
Many forecasters believe that the number of travelers will match or even exceed the levels of the old days before the pandemic. However, airlines have thousands fewer employees than in 2019, and that has at times contributed to widespread flight cancellations.
People who are only now booking travel for the summer are experiencing etiquette shock.
Domestic airfares for the summer are averaging more than $400 for a round trip, 24% more than in 2019, before the pandemic, and a solid 45% more than a year ago, according to travel data firm Hopper.
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