Business

Travelers don’t face multiple cancellations on Memorial Day weekend


A Southwest Airlines taxi driven by a Delta Air Lines plane lands at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., January 24, 2022.

Joshua Roberts | Reuters

Travelers don’t just have to deal with sticker shock this weekend during Memorial Day, the kick-off to the summer travel season. They are also dealing with piles of canceled flights.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, more than 1,200 flights were canceled as of 2 p.m. EDT Saturday. That entailed more than 2,300 cancellations on Friday.

Delta Airlines suffered the most among US airlines, with more than 240 flights, or 9% of its operations, canceled on Saturday. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, where Delta is headquartered and has its largest hub, has been 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 cancellation was due to bad weather and “air traffic control operations,” noting that it is trying to cancel flights at least 24 hours in advance. hours this weekend during Memorial Day.

Delta announced on its website on Thursday that from July 1 to August 7, it will reduce service by about 100 daily departures, mainly in parts of the United States and Latin America without Delta regularly serves.

“More than at any point in our history, different factors are now affecting our operations – weather and air traffic control, supplier staffing, Covid case rates increases contribute to some workgroup unscheduled absences being higher than expected – leading to an operation that doesn’t “consistently meet the standards Delta has set for the industry in recent years “, Delta’s Director of Customer Experience, Allison Ausband said in a post.

Airlines and tourist attractions are anticipating monster crowds this summer as travel restrictions ease and pandemic fatigue overcomes lingering fears of contracting with Covid-19 while traveling.

Many forecasters believe visitor numbers will match or even exceed levels in the pre-pandemic days. However, airlines have thousands of fewer employees than they did in 2019, and that has at times contributed to widespread flight cancellations.

Those who currently only book travel tickets for the summer are experiencing sticker shock.

According to travel data firm Hopper, domestic airfares for the summer average over $400 for a round trip, 24% higher than this time in 2019, pre-pandemic, and 45% higher. compared with a year ago, according to travel data company Hopper.



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