More On: Labor Day weekend flights
Thousands of Labor Day weekend flights in the US are canceled or delayed
Before the Labor Day holiday, major U.S. airlines had to delay a lot of flights.
FlightAware, which keeps track of flights that were canceled or delayed, says that more than 3,600 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were delayed on Saturday, and 145 flights were canceled.
Expect more delays and cancelations throughout the weekend. As of Sunday morning, about 300 flights in, out of, or within the U.S. had already been delayed, and dozens had been canceled.
The American Automobile Association says that about 32% of Americans will travel over the Labor Day weekend. This is why there are delays.
Fox Weather says that the federation thinks this Labor Day weekend will be the busiest in three years, even before the pandemic.
After months of frustrating flight cancellations and delays, the Department of Transportation announced on Thursday that it had launched an airline customer service dashboard. This led to "significant changes" from all but one of the ten largest U.S. airlines.
“Passengers deserve transparency and clarity on what to expect from an airline when there is a cancelation or disruption,” Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “This dashboard collects that information in one place so travelers can easily understand their rights, compare airline practices, and make informed decisions.”
“The Department will continue to support passengers and to hold airlines responsible for adhering to their customer obligations,” he pledged.
Previous summer cancellations have been blamed on staffing shortages, particularly among airline pilots.
Federal officials have said that airlines don't have enough staff, but airlines have said that the Federal Aviation Administration has staffing problems.
The number of cancellations has gone up by about a third since this time last year.
Nearly a quarter more flights are running late.
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