United Airlines has been slammed by families who have been stranded at airports across the nation as this week’s travel flightmare spilled into Friday – ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
More than 4,000 U.S. flights have been delayed today and nearly 400 canceled as Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg targeted United, claiming it is the only airline that has not recovered from the travel chaos of previous days.
It’s been a hectic week for travelers as the country has seen nearly 7,000 flight cancelations in the last days. Moreover, there have been 35,000 delays this week as airports have struggled to manage travelers.
‘With the exception of United, airlines have recovered to a more typical cancellation/delay rate as of this morning, after the severe weather earlier this week,’ Buttigieg tweeted on Thursday.
‘FAA will continue to work with airlines to help them minimize disruptions during the busy 4th of July travel weekend.
CHICAGO: United Airlines has been slammed by families who have been stranded at airports across the nation as this week’s travel flightmare spilled into Friday
NEW YORK: More than 800 U.S. flights delayed today as the Fourth of July holiday weekend begins. People travel through JFK Airport Terminal 4 on Friday ahead of the July 4th holidays
As the travel madness continues, frustrated passengers slammed the FAA after the agency tweeted a Wheel of Fortune’ meme about unruly passengers
TSA advised Americans to ‘pack some patience’ as they try to get to their holiday destinations.
‘As we approach the July 4th holiday travel period, we’re expecting record travel volumes, TSA is staffed & ready to handle the increased volumes with technologies & resources for improved security effectiveness, efficiency, & passenger experience at security checkpoints,’ TSA administrator David Pekoske said on Thursday.
‘I encourage travelers to pack a bag that starts empty to ensure you don’t have any prohibited items, arrive early, have your ID out and ready, and pack some patience.’
Chicago’s O’Hare and Newark Liberty International airport in New Jersey saw the most disruptions early on Friday morning.
O’Hare has registered 21 cancelled and 76 delayed flights, with Newark cancelling 22 and delaying 38.
By late morning, Denver International Airport became the most affected, with 24 cancelled and 76 delayed flights.
Friday’s cancellations, however, are looking better than they have in previous days this week.
Meanwhile, United remains the most affected airline, with 215 cancelled flights, followed by easyJet, with 55.
As the travel madness continues, the FAA received backlash after the agency shared a tweet many did not find appropriate.
‘There’s nothing puzzling about bad behavior on a flight – it doesn’t fly and can cost you big money or jail time,’ the FAA tweeted alongside a clue that said, ‘what ruins your flight?’ with the answer ‘unruly passengers.’
People were not happy with the timing, given this week’s travel nightmare.
‘Given the myriad of current challenges in aviation, was it truly the best use of your time to tweet Ryan Seacrest?’ replied one Twitter user.
Another said: ‘What ruins your flight? Unions and a clueless transportation secretary to start… ‘
More than 2.8million people are expected to pass through airport security checkpoints on Friday, which would be a single-day record, according to TSA.
The chaos began over the weekend when storms began walloping the northeast and parts of the Midwest, causing mass delays and cancellations into and out of New York area airports.
On Thursday, more than 8,000 were delayed across the U.S., with the Denver and Chicago airports seeing the worst chaos.
ATLANTA: The chaos began over the weekend when storms began walloping the northeast and parts of the Midwest
NEW YORK: United remains the most affected airline, with 192 cancelled flights, followed by easyJet, with 45
NEW YORK: More than 2.8million people are expected to pass through airport security checkpoints on Friday, which would be a single-day record, according to TSA
A ‘misery map’ shows the severity of flight delates and cancelations across the nation
United Airlines bore the brunt of the disruptions, with about 19 percent of its scheduled flights canceled and about 47 percent delayed.
The Chicago-based carrier said its operations were beginning to see improvement. While the cancellations on Thursday were fewer than those in previous days in the week, United still scrapped 15 percent of its flights, data from FlightAware showed.
The mass debacle also comes about a week after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned of forthcoming travel disruptions due to a July 1 5G service boost that US wireless companies plan to execute.
In a late June interview with the Wall Street journal, Buttigieg cited the 5G boost as a ‘real risk’ to air travels hoping for seamless experiences.
‘This represents one of the biggest – probably the biggest – foreseeable problem affecting performance this summer,’ he said.
US planes that are not retrofitted to withstand interference from the new 5G wireless signals may not be permitted to land in low-visibility conditions.
Most but not all US planes have been upgraded to meet the new standards, and while most major carriers will meet the Saturday deadline, JetBlue and an already struggling United Airlines will not be entirely done upgrading their fleets by then.
Videos and images across the internet have shown hordes of passengers lining up for hours attempting to retrieve their luggage – some have camped out, and many are at their wits’ end with airline customer service operations.
