Airlines canceled more than 3,700 flights to the United States over the weekend and delayed thousands more, citing weather in Florida and other problems. Problems persisted Monday, with more than 1,800 domestic flights abandoned early Monday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.
He observed major disruptions at several Florida airports, including Miami, Fort. Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando, as well as Baltimore, New York and other airports across the country. JetBlue, Southwest, Alaska Airlines, Frontier, Spirit and American Airlines were the hardest hit, according to FlightAware, with JetBlue and Spirit canceling a third of Sunday’s scheduled flights. Local news reported storms in Florida on Saturday. Several airlines said on Sunday that operations were returning to normal.
The gang of cancellations came as air travel is recovering the pandemic, with a strong demand for spring break flights. People on social media complained about waiting or queuing for hours to reschedule their canceled flights and being stranded for days.
“Severe weather in the southeast and several delayed air traffic control programs have created significant impacts on the industry,” a JetBlue spokesman said in an email. “Today’s (Sunday) cancellations will help us restore our operations and relocate our crews and aircraft safely.”
Southwest Airlines also cited “weather and air congestion” on Saturday in Florida, as well as a “technology problem.” He canceled about 1,000 flights over the weekend, but said that as of 1 p.m., he had no further cancellations on Sunday.
American said Florida weather on Saturday affected its operations and was recovering on Sunday.
Alaska Airlines seemed to be dealing with a separate issue. The airline said on Sunday that weekend flight cancellations that began on Friday had affected more than 37,000 customers and more cancellations were possible. The airline declined to say why it canceled flights, but referred to its statement to negotiate contracts with its pilots. Out-of-service pilots picketed several U.S. cities on Friday over stalled negotiations. They have been without a new contract for three years.
“Alaska Airlines did not properly plan to increase the demand for travel and took the necessary steps to ensure that it would attract and retain pilots,” the pilots’ union said in a press release on Friday.
As of 4:30 a.m. EDT on Monday, the airline had canceled 36 of its daily flights, which accounted for 4%, according to FlightAware.
- In:
- flight cancellations
- airlines
Add Comment