People traveling for July 4 have reportedly experienced a huge number of delayed and canceled flights, even after hundreds were canceled last weekend.
As of Saturday night, nearly 650 flights in the United States had been canceled and more than 5,200 flights within, into, or out of the country had been delayed as the airline industry braces for July 4 “Airmageddon.”
The cancelations come at a time when tens of millions of Americans are expected to travel over the weekend via plane, road, and rail. Auto club AAA predicted that about 48 million people will travel between Friday and Monday, July 4. Some 3.55 million are expected to fly.
Adding to the huge volume of travelers, Delta Air Lines pilots, who say they’ve been hit with hefty workloads, picketed for higher wages outside airports nationwide Thursday, as the airline canceled more than 400 flights this week.
Instead of actually solving the ongoing problem plaguing the US airline industry, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told disgruntled travelers they are entitled to a prompt refund if their flight gets canceled.
“Flight canceled? You are entitled to a prompt refund.” Buttigieg said in a tweet on Saturday.
Flight canceled? You are entitled to a prompt refund.
Learn more about your rights at our Consumer Protection site. https://t.co/SuUOobh3St
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) July 2, 2022
Here’s what The Daily Mail reported about delayed flights:
Airlines have cancelled and delayed hundreds of flights in the U.S. sparking travel chaos during the busiest Fourth of July weekend since the pandemic, which has been dubbed ‘Airmageddon.’
Around 48 million people are expected to travel this weekend with AAA estimating 3.5million would take to the air. But the actual number of passengers flying may be dramatically higher as, the Transportation Security Administration screened more than 2.4 million travelers at airports on Thursday alone – up 17 percent from the Fourth of July Friday in 2019.
Many fliers will be facing disappointment, with 604 flights canceled by 2:30pm, and 2,879 have been delayed, according to Flight Aware, which reported that by the end of Friday, 586 U.S. flights were called off and 7,773 were rescheduled.
Leading major U.S. airlines in cancellations on Saturday was American Airlines, which canceled 96 flights and delayed 421 flights. Delta followed behind, canceling 63 flights and delaying 322.
United Airlines has canceled 42 flights and delayed 185, and Southwest has called off 22 flights and has delayed 507 flights so far.
In addition, one-third of Americans changed their holiday plans due to sky-high gas prices, according to an Emerson College Poll posted Friday.
“The survey, taken June 28-29 among 1,271 registered voters, found that 33 percent have actively changed their travel plans this holiday weekend due to consistently high gas prices.”
Sources: TheGatewayPundit, The Daily Mail
