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.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who previously called on airlines to get in shape before the weekend, appeared to give up on getting things under control as he told Americans to follow his lead and claim compensation over the canceled flights.
'Airlines offer miles as compensation for some travel issues, and you can often negotiate on this,' tweeted Buttigieg, who said he got back $112.07 over his canceled flight on Friday after he was initially offered about $30 back.
European flights canceled and delayed amid ongoing strikes
Hundreds of flights from various European airports were canceled or delayed on Saturday as the industry struggles with ongoing worker strikes.
Labor action by cabin crews at the two low-cost airlines EasyJet and Ryanair as well as by airport workers in Europe's second-busiest airport — Roissy-Charles de Gaulle in Paris — are causing major headaches for airlines just as the first school summer holidays begin after two years of pandemic restrictions.
One in five flights from the main Paris airport were canceled on Saturday morning, while the EasyJet and Ryanair strike led to the cancellation of 15 flights to and from Spain with another 175 delayed.
Ryanair's cabin crew also announced another 12 days of work stoppages. Paris airport workers said they will walk out again on July 8 to 10.
The striking cabin crews are demanding improvements to their working conditions and pay to put them in line with other European airlines.
Ryanair employees have been striking since June 24, with the aim of bringing the company to the negotiation table, while EasyJet cabin crews joined the strike on Friday.
"After six days of strike and in view of the unwillingness of the company to listen to its staff and its preference for leaving thousands of passengers grounded rather than sitting down to negotiate an agreement under Spanish law, we have been forced to call new strike days," Lidia Arasanz from the USO union that has organized the Ryanair workers was quoted by AFP as saying.
Arasanz said that the initial strike had seen a total so far of "more than 200 flights canceled and almost 1,000 delays," adding that the new strike could cause even more disruptions.
The industry slashed thousands of jobs during the pandemic when people were unable or unwilling to fly, but they have been unable to refill positions as the new post-restrictions demand has soared.
Airports in the UK and the Netherlands struggled to deal with the surge in traffic earlier in the year, while France was largely spared.
Pilots for the Scandinavian SAS airline delayed a planned strike on Saturday after negotiations with company management showed some progress. If the 900 pilots go ahead with their strike, hundreds of flights per day will likely be canceled.
1 comment:
The truth is there is no planes as they were all mothballed for covit. It takes months to re-service planes. They thought the vaccine would off done its job by now and the planes would not need to be returned to service. The same goes for the reduction in fuel, food and other commodities.
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