There were more than 2,500 flights in the US canceled during Memorial Day weekendfrustrating passengers during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
A number of factors have been combined to fly the flights, said CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg, including the airlines that schedule the flights; lack of staff at airports, airlines and the TSA; bad weather; and an increase in holiday travelers. And as cancellations piled up, this affected people trying to catch connecting flights.
“The real problem was not just the flights that were canceled,” Greenberg said. “The real problem was connecting flights. Because if the first flight was delayed, that’s where people had real problems. They missed connecting flights. There were no other options. They were stuck.”
More than 2.3 million people were booked to travel by plane over the long weekend, an increase that quickly overwhelmed some airports and airlines, many of which are understaffed before the COVID-19 pandemic. , said Greenberg.
The deluge of canceled flights began with 2,300 worldwide cancellations on the Friday before Memorial Day, according to the FlightAware flight tracking website. Saturday followed with 1,500 cancellations, followed by 1,640 cancellations on Sunday and another 1,644 on Monday.
Cancellations continued on Tuesday, according to flight tracking, with 1,231 flights canceled worldwide at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, 83 of which involved planes scheduled to fly to or from cities in the United States. USA.
Among the major U.S. airlines, Delta Air Lines canceled most flights during the holiday weekend. According to FlightAware, the carrier was forced to cancel more than 400 flights on Saturday and Sunday, and another 133 flights on Monday.
Airfare is quadrupled in some markets
Airlines expect an increase in passengers this summer as travel restrictions have eased and pandemic fatigue outweighs fears of contracting COVID-19. Many forecasters believe that the number of passengers will equal or even exceed pre-pandemic levels.
People who only book summer trips now are experiencing the adhesive shock.
“It’s not about the intensity, it’s about the cost of a plane ticket,” Greenberg said. “It has increased by about 7% every four days since the beginning of the year. So in many markets, the air fare has not only doubled, but quadrupled.”
Domestic airfare for the summer exceeds $ 400 on average for a round trip, 45 percent more than a year ago, according to travel data firm Hopper.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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