Canceled flights this winter hit 25-year high

NEW YORK — The relentless snow and ice storms this winter have led to the highest number of flight cancellations in more than 25 years, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.

U.S. airlines have canceled more than 75,000 domestic flights since Dec. 1, including more than 14,000 this past week. That’s 5.5 percent of the 1.37 million flights scheduled during that period, according to calculations based on information provided by flight tracking site FlightAware.

It’s the highest total number and highest percent of cancellations since at least the winter of 1987-1988, when the Department of Transportation first started collecting cancellation data.

The nation’s air traffic system was still recovering Friday from the latest bout of bad weather. Flights were taking off again, but thousands of passengers weren’t.

“This year is off to a brutal start for airlines and travelers,” FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker says. “Not only is each storm causing tens of thousands of cancellations, but there’s been a lot of them.”

And February still has two weeks left.

Nature isn’t entirely to blame. A mix of costcutting measures and new government regulations has made airlines more likely to cancel flights and leave fliers scrambling to get to their destination.

There were days this past week where more than 70 percent of flights were canceled in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, N.C. Even typically warm — or at least warmer — weather cities were not immune. The world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, was paralyzed Wednesday by ice and snow.

Making things worse for travelers this winter, airlines have been cutting unprofitable flights and packing more passengers into planes. That’s been great for their bottom line but has created a nightmare for passengers whose flights are canceled due to a storm. Other planes are too full to easily accommodate the stranded travelers. Many must wait days to secure seats on other flights.

Carol Cummings, 23, was trying to fly Thursday on United Airlines from the Washington, D.C., area to Los Angeles to visit a high school friend for the Presidents Day weekend. The flight was canceled, and Cummings was automatically rebooked for a flight on Monday — the day she was supposed to return. After two and a half hours on hold, United offered to move the trip to another weekend — for an extra $150 — or to refund her ticket.

“I am annoyed and surprised at the lack of customer concern I experienced,” she says. Cummings is waiting for her refund.

This winter is even more painful than 20002001, when 66,000 — or 4.2 percent of December, January and February flights — were scrapped.