Delta cutting flights due to staffing, COVID, weather disruptions

[Jilly_in_VA]

Flight cancellations and short-staffing are already marring the start of the busy summer travel season, as Delta Air Lines warned of disruptions to flights over Memorial Day weekend and announced cuts to its flight schedule due to operational challenges.

Facing weather disruptions, short-staffing and an increase in COVID-19 cases among its employees, Atlanta-based Delta is cutting flights over the Memorial Day holiday period and through the summer.

That promises to cause frustrations for the millions of travelers expected to take to the skies for vacations this weekend and through the summer, amid a rebound in travel that has driven record demand in some areas. Delta alone expects to handle 2.5 million passengers over the Memorial Day weekend, up 25% from 2021.

Delta said it will send updates to customers if their flights are disrupted. Rescheduling passengers onto other flights could be challenging because many flights are fully booked for the holiday period.

Among the problems is that Delta has been struggling to get enough pilots hired and trained to operate its schedule as it ramps up flights. The airline is cutting about 100 flights a day for July and early August, amounting to about 2% of the airline’s flights, according to a spokesman.

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-airport-blog/delta-cutting-flights-due-to-staffing-covid-weather-disruptions/KTVMRPJPZBD47OFUA5PHVGII6A/
___________________________________________________________________________
I guess Delta gets my traveling "Shithouse of the Skies" trophy this week

[BumRushDaShow]

1. "an increase in COVID-19 cases among its employees"

Self-inflicted wound.

v

[Mad_Machine76]

12. Were they the ones

Suing over the mask mandate?

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Most of the airlines complied but it was some of their (put-up) employees

(flight attendants from some airlines and pilots from other airlines) who sued and got it overturned.

[Mad_Machine76]

17. Oh ok.

[mnhtnbb]

2. I just flew Delta to/from LaGuardia

to attend my son's commencement in Connecticut. Both planes were completely full. Carry on bags had to be checked. Listening to announcements at gates adjacent to where my flights were departing, same story. Asking people to check carry on bags before boarding.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. I always either check

or gate-check my bags. I am a petite female of a certain age who does not enjoy fighting and wrestling with other passengers for overhead space. It's much easier to do it the other way. Gate-checking is free.

[spooky3]

6. I do the same, though there are risks.

Sometimes checked luggage takes a longgg time to come out, or is lost (especially if you have a connecting flight). I understand why a lot of people prefer to carryon.

[Jilly_in_VA]

7. Gate-checking

is usually quick and easy. I through-check generally though.

[mnhtnbb]

8. I once had Delta not put my gate checked bag

on the flight. It showed up four days later. I've never let Delta check a bag since then because it is the only airline that has ever lost my luggage, several times. Once when traveling to a family wedding, there was no overhead space when we got on. The bins were full of stuff that could go under seats. I asked one passenger to take their small stuff out and I'd put it under the seat in front of me so I could stow my carryon. The flight attendants were zero help.

For the last 10 years, I only fly business or first class. Never a problem with overhead luggage space that way. But I hate the process of flying now so much that I've told people I'm done. Yesterday was my last flight. If I can't get there on a train, by ship, or car, I'm not going.

[ZZenith]

3. Just had a delayed flight on Delta that broke my connection in SLC.

To their credit, they got me on a direct United flight that got me home three hours earlier than I would have had it gone as originally planned. The women at the ticket counter were all exhausted but still very professional.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

5. In my experience Delta is pretty good at trying to make things right

Though I guess that could also be partially do to them kissing my ass due to my status with them lol. I have heard horror stories with another airlines like Spirit and American though. A friend's daughter got stuck in Orlando for 2 days last summer because Spirit had a bunch of cancelations. They offered her a flight credit and that was it. She had to book a flight with a different airline out of her own pocket to get home.

[ZZenith]

14. Yeah, "Shithouse of the Skies" doesn't seem to apply to Delta

like it does to some airlines.

I would HATE to be responsible for scheduling flights in this day and age. Yikes.

[liberal_mama]

9. Nice work, Delta! Delta pushed for no Covid mitigations and now

they have "an increase in COVID-19 cases among its employees."

Plus the lack of masks on travelers is probably infecting a lot of employees.

Wait til 20%+ of their employees have long Covid and need to take long term sick leave.

I would never fly Delta again. They are a truly depraved and reckless company.

My husband caught Covid from a still infectious coworker a week after Delta CEO asked the CDC to change the quarantine to only 5 days. He still has lingering symptoms. I will never get over my anger with Delta and the CDC for risking people's lives and health.

[Jilly_in_VA]

10. Not a fan of Delta anyway

They are usually the highest priced when I am trying to get where I want to go. If someone else is paying for it, that's one thing. If I am, nope.

[DFW]

11. In my experience, if you HAVE to fly domestic in the USA

You're better off with Delta percentage-wise.

American pulled the straw that broke my camel's back last year. We paid them over $7000 for two business class round trip tickets Frankfurt-Dallas and back. On the return trip, they made us wait about 2 hours at the check-in counter while their agent was on a 90 minute "phone call," and then told us we had arrived too late to check in for the flight. They then lied to us about there being no other flights to Europe that day that we could connect with to Germany. I was even put with a supervisor, whose English was almost comprehensible (I don't speak Hindi), and he told us the flight to Paris, which I had to remind him existed, leaving in two hours, was full, though he didn't even bother to look. American wouldn't even get us a cheap (or any) hotel room, a meal, or even a drink of water--just a promise that we could take the same flight the next day. Since my employer is headquartered in Dallas, we have quite a few platinum-for-life employees. We spend (or used to) millions, probably tens of millions with them every year. They don't care. They were probably overbooked, and didn't want to lose a cent in helping out passengers they were screwing. They are, if anyone asks, a horrible, poorly run, uncaring air line company, and are to be avoided at all costs.

We have had awful experiences with United, too, but were forced to take them for a few flights in the last two years, and had no problems with them recently.

[ZZenith]

15. I think this was a healing moment for you, DFW.

[mn9driver]

16. This is going to continue for a while.

I flew a 3 day trip earlier this week. My first officer and I were rerouted into other flying 4 times during that 3 days. On the last day, after two minimum rest nights (8 hours behind the hotel room door) and exactly one non-vending machine meal since leaving home, they tried to reroute us again into a maximum on-duty day.

I had to say no. I’m sure we were blamed for the subsequent cancellations because we “didn’t want to work”. The fact that fatigue is a real and cumulative threat with this kind of crisis operation is viewed by Delta as an inconvenience and a nuisance. Delta is way behind on training more pilots. The summer is gonna be ugly.