A days-long disruption to flights to and from the Greater New York area has raised concerns about how prepared airlines are for the July 4 holiday, a weekend expected to see record numbers of air travelers.
More than four million Americans are expected to fly this holiday season, about 11 percent more than last year and about 6 percent more than 2019’s record, according to the AAA, the busiest day of the period, with 52,564 flights, will be Thursday Federal Aviation Administration said.
But as travelers prepared for a busy holiday weekend, airlines tried to shift the blame onto the FAA, which runs the country’s air traffic control system, for at least some of the thousands of flight cancellations and tens of thousands of flight delays across the country this week.
Here’s what travelers should know.
What is the situation like at airports in the northeast?
Travel at New York airports, particularly Newark, has been disrupted since the weekend, with many travelers reporting lengthy flight delays and difficulty rebooking canceled flights. In some cases, passengers reported sleeping in airports and waiting in lines or on the phone for hours to reach customer service.
One traveller said on Twitter that a connecting flight operated by United Airlines departing Newark Airport over the weekend was delayed by approximately 15 hours after passengers “disembarked” the plane after midnight. The traveler’s family slept on beds in the terminal.
Thunderstorms along the East Coast piled up in “the perfect spot” to close off busy markets in New York and Florida, Chris Citrola, an FAA spokesperson, said. said in a video posted online.
“What’s happening is a domino effect of problems,” he said. “We have crews that can’t get where they need to be, we can’t get crews where they need to go and that’s starting to lead to a lot of problems at the airport itself.”
Which airlines are most affected? Who’s to blame?
Of the approximately 4,500 flights canceled nationwide on Monday and Tuesday, more than 30 percent were operated by United, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking company. Other airlines reporting significant cancellations included JetBlue Airways, the subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, Endeavor Air, and Republic Airways, which flies for Delta, United and American Airlines.
By mid-afternoon Wednesday, United, which maintains a hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, had canceled about 15 percent of the nationwide flights it had scheduled for the day, according to FlightAware. Endeavor had canceled about 12 percent of its flights, while JetBlue had canceled about 9 percent and Republic had canceled about 8 percent.
United and JetBlue attributed the problems to the weather, as well as the FAA
In a statement Wednesday, United said staff shortages in air traffic over the weekend had contributed to “a difficult work environment”. This debt echoes what United CEO Scott Kirby told employees in a memo earlier this week, saying that “the FAA has flat-out failed us this weekend.” JetBlue said in a statement it was struggling to keep up with its flight schedule after air traffic control restricted travel to and from New York airports for all airlines.
What’s really going on with FAA personnel?
The FAA said Monday or Tuesday it had no personnel issues with air traffic control along the East Coast. In a statement, the agency said it “will always work with anyone who is seriously willing to join us in solving a problem.”
Yet air traffic control has long been understaffed, and controllers at many facilities often work six days a week to remedy those shortcomings.
In a report released last week, the Department of Transportation found that most of the 26 critical air traffic control facilities it identified were understaffed by 15 percent or more as of March 2022. One such facility, New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, which oversees one of the country’s most complex and challenging airspaces, employed only 54 percent of its target number of air traffic controllers.
The report said the problem had been going on for years, something United’s Mr Kirby also noted on Monday.
“It is not the fault of the current FAA leadership that they are in this seriously understaffed position — it has been building for a long time before they were in charge,” he said in his memo.
The FAA has also had staffing problems at the top. The last permanent director stepped down in March 2022 and the agency is currently led by its second temporary director.
What recourse is there for passengers with delayed or canceled flights?
Most US airlines offer passengers compensation when a flight delay or cancellation is caused by a factor within the airline’s control, such as maintenance issues or understaffing. Bad weather and FAA personnel are generally ineligible.
But when the airline defaults, major airlines will rebook passengers to the same airline at no extra charge and provide meals or meal vouchers when passengers have to wait three hours or more.
To navigate potential disruptions, travelers should download and check airline apps, consider purchasing travel insurance — which usually covers flight delays — and transition to morning departures if possible.
In the event of massive delays or cancellations, there will likely be long wait times for customer service representatives. Instead, travelers can call an airline’s overseas hotline, which will usually see a fraction of callers, said Scott Keyes, the founder of Going.com, a travel deals website.
Can this holiday weekend be repeated last summer?
“It’s going to be a very hectic weekend and one with the potential for disruption,” said Mike Arnot, a spokesman for the aeronautical analytics firm Cirium, noting that the punishing heat in the south and smoky skies from Canadian wildfires could also cause delays.
But Going.com’s Mr. Keyes said he was optimistic this summer would be better than last year, calling it a “debacle.”
He’s not the only one to use that term. From June to August last year, more than 22 percent of all flights were delayed and about 2 percent canceled, according to data from the Transportation Department.
To prevent a recurrence and ease pressure on air traffic control, the FAA has relaxed regulations at some airports to encourage airlines to operate fewer flights with larger aircraft. It also opened 169 new routes to ease congestion. Airlines hired more staff, opted to use bigger planes and began to pay closer attention to early signs of trouble.
These steps can work. Of the more than 100,000 flights scheduled for Memorial Day weekend this year, less than 1 percent were canceled, according to FlightAware.
