Travelers will arrive at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois on June 30, 2023. Travel forecasters are predicting travel records for the 4th of July weekend, but this year’s celebration could also be a battle with the elements.
Kamil Krzaczynsky | AFP | Getty Images
Flight delays and cancellations continued to disrupt thousands of Fourth of July travelers on Friday United Airlines passengers affected by the problems.
The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 17.7 million people from June 29 through July 5, with a peak of more than 2.8 million people on Friday. That would be a one-day record for daily screenings and one of the clearest signs yet of aviation’s strong recovery from the Covid pandemic.
More than 4,800 U.S. flights were delayed on Friday, even though United had more delays than competitors.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, the airline had canceled more than 230 main flights, 8% of its operation, while more than 790 flights, or more than a quarter of its schedule, were delayed, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
That was still much less than Thursday’s disruptions and a notable improvement from last weekend, when a slew of thunderstorms along the East Coast sparked chaos at some of the country’s busiest airports. Some airline executives blamed the Federal Aviation Administration’s shortage of air traffic controllers for exacerbating problems for their customers.
Customers stretched out in airports all week, waiting for hours for flight information or new schedules, with seats on other flights or other airlines scarce. They also faced long lines for customer service and lost bags.
Not even the CEO of United Airlines could get a seat outside of New York. On Wednesday, Scott Kirby took a private jet from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport to Denver, Colorado.
An airline spokeswoman told CNBC that United has not paid for his flight. Kirby apologized to staff and travelers on Friday for taking the private jet when so many others were stranded.
“Getting a private jet was the wrong decision because it was insensitive to our customers waiting to go home,” Kirby said in a statement to CNBC. “I sincerely apologize to our customers and our team members who have been working around the clock for several days – often through inclement weather – to look after our customers.
“Seeing our team firsthand with our clients at four different airports and in numerous meetings this week, it is clear to me that they represent the best of United, and I regret inferring their professionalism,” he continued. “I promise to better show my respect for the dedication of our team members and the loyalty of our customers.”
United said Friday afternoon that performance improved over the holiday weekend. The airline is offering waivers to affected travelers so they can rebook their trips without paying fare differences.
But it also warned, “Storms in Denver, Chicago and the East Coast will continue to be a challenge, but most of today’s cancellations were made in advance to give customers time to adjust.”
Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg called on United on Friday for the challenges of the past week, saying the airline’s disruptions are “serious but moving in the right direction”.
Airlines are under political and public pressure to operate reliably after their overambitious schedules and staff shortages exacerbated routine challenges such as inclement weather. The trouble comes as demand for travel recovers from the lows of the pandemic.
More storms and challenges, such as wildfires from Canada, are likely to plague airlines in the coming days, although the worst of the disruptions have largely subsided this week. (Of course, if your flight is canceled or delayed, this is what airlines owe you.)
More than 42,000 U.S. airline flights were delayed Saturday through Thursday, and more than 7,900 were canceled in total, according to flight-tracker site FlightAware. More than 5% of schedules in the US were canceled, about four times the cancellation rate so far this year.
During that six-period period, half of United’s mainline flights arrived late, amounting to an average delay of 106 minutes, according to FlightAware data. Another 19% of the schedule was cancelled.
Union leaders blamed United for some of the problems, stranding crews and passengers during the disruptions. Flight disruptions often spiral out of control as crews and aircraft are out of position, and long delays can push them up against federally mandated work limits.
United is offering flight attendants a triple reward for picking up shifts during the busy holiday season.
“The failure of United management to properly staff crew planners, flight attendants support team and more has exacerbated these operational issues and left passengers and flight attendants waiting for hours at a time for answers,” said Ken Diaz, president of the United Chapter. of the Association of Flight Attendants, said in a statement Thursday. “The airline ‘lost’ crews in the system for days because there was such significant disruption in running the operation.”
Garth Thompson, a United captain and president of the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, accused the company of not investing in the operation.
“Flying in the summer can be challenging, but this summer will be unnecessarily memorable,” he said. “To those caught up in management’s unforced errors, I’m truly sorry.”
Both unions are in contract negotiations with the company, seeking compensation and scheduling improvements.
A person sits on the ground at JFK International Airport on June 30, 2023 in New York City.
David Dee Delgado | Getty Images
United CEO Kirby wrote to staff on Monday that some of the past weekend’s problems stemmed from air traffic controller understaffing, saying that “the FAA flat out let us down” when it lowered arrival and departure rates at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, a major United hub.
The FAA had warned of staff shortages in the New York City area earlier this year, and some airlines agreed to reduce capacity to avoid overloading the system.
“It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions, as well as crews and aircraft out of position,” Kirby wrote in a staff note, which was viewed by CNBC. “And that put everyone behind the eighth ball when the weather really hit on Sunday and was compounded by FAA staff shortages on Sunday night.”
JetBlue also blamed the FAA for similar problems.
“We are working with the FAA to better understand what led to the significant and unexpected ATC restrictions this week that affected thousands of flights from several airlines,” JetBlue’s COO, Joanna Geraghty, said in a memo to employees Wednesday. “The severity and length of the latest programs have been worse than we have seen in the past with similar weather and this has caused inconvenience to tens of thousands of our customers and in many cases blamed JetBlue for a situation beyond our control.”