More Than 750 U.S. Flights Canceled on Wednesday

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: New York Times

Airlines canceled more than 840 of the day’s flights in the United States by Wednesday morning, a sign of continuing stress as the industry tries to emerge from a days-long meltdown ahead of the New Year’s holiday weekend.

The problems began to mount the day before Christmas as air carriers contended with staffing shortages driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus, as well as foul winter weather. Cancellations peaked on Sunday, when more than 1,500 flights into, out of or within the United States — more than 6 percent of scheduled flights — were scrubbed, according to FlightAware.

On Tuesday, airlines canceled nearly 1,300 flights, led by United Airlines, which grounded about 6 percent of its trips, and Delta Air Lines, which canceled 4 percent of its schedule.

The cancellations come during one of the busiest times for air travel and as the industry hopes to resume profitability after two brutal years for travel.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/more-than-750-us-flights-canceled-on-wednesday/ar-AASeL7I

[greenjar_01]

1. So...it's getting better?

1300 on Tuesday, 850 on Wednesday? And if 4-6% were cancelled, isn't it also correct to say that 95% of flights remained active?

[RussBLib]

2. whew, glad we didn't fly this holiday

What a mess. Haven't heard many holiday travel horror stories yet, but I'm sure they are coming.

[NullTuples]

3. Clearly the airline investors need more taxpayer money, that should solve the problem

/sarcasm

[mn9driver]

4. It's nuts out here.

I’m currently on a 3 day trip and NOTHING is operating on time. In Seattle yesterday, half of the ground crews were out sick. The terminals are full of people wearing chin masks and I’m flying double time until I run out, which will be tomorrow, or maybe today if things are as bad as they were yesterday.

75 percent of the problem is covid. The other 25 percent is the bad flying weather we're having all over the northern US, and more covid. I hope I can get home without getting sick.

[Aussie105]

5. Stay home for the holidays! /rant warning

Stop trying to pretend everything is back to normal, because it isn't!

And those idiots who ignore signs in malls and shops that masks should be worn, what is wrong with you, you have had 2 years of that, you should be used to it by now.

Bad, or even worse, are shopkeepers who say nothing when they have a 'masks must be worn' sign in their shop window, and some f'wit walks in unmasked.

You all are just guaranteeing this will go on for another couple of years.

But Australia: Open the borders, tell people not to line up for testing, tell them to rely on home testing kits that don't exist in pharmacies, and lady at the pharmacy counter, feel free to go apeshit at me because I asked if you had any, yeah, it's the ECONOMY, stupid, got to protect that, and the politicians are all saying 'This is fine!'

Bad luck if habit or rebelliousness or denial or worship of the economy kills you.
Omicron isn't the end point of this pandemic. Stop pretending it will just go away.

Climbing into a tin can that flies through the air and you sit there for hours breathing recirculated air from strangers who may or may not be vaccinated, who may or may not be wearing masks properly, who may or may not be breathing out the virus, is pure suicidal insanity!

LET ME OFF THIS PLANET!
(In case I can't, third jab in 6 days. 4th jab on the horizon, as many as it takes to not become a COVID statistic!)

/end rant. (I'm not promising any further rants.)

[iluvtennis]

6. You stated: "Omicron isn't the end point of this pandemic. Stop pretending it will just go away."

Totally agree. Until we get vaccination levels up over 90%, and people wear masks, and do social distancing, this virus will still keep mutating.

[appleannie1]

7. I flew home yesterday without a hitch until I had to wait over 45 min. for my luggage to appear.

Flight had some empty seats until 4 pilots got on last minute to fly standby to PGH. Flight waited on the runway in a long line of planes to take off then landed on time in PGH. But baggage claim had a lot of empty baggage chutes with people standing around waiting. When I finally got my bag the shuttle to the garage where I parked my car was just pulling up on it's every 15 min. schedule so all in all, I have no complaints given the season.

[róisín_dubh]

8. Ughhhhh...I'm flying back to the US on Wednesday.

As long as I can get somewhere in the Northeast, I'll be fine. British Airways seems to be doing okay with its London to NYC area flights, so I suppose I'll be fine.