USA TODAY International Edition
American Airlines’ problems with cancellations continue
Weather, staffing issues create troubles for flyers
American Airlines passengers faced another day of travel trouble Monday after a weekend of mass flight cancellations.
The airline had canceled 411 flights, or 14% of its schedule, and delayed more than 500 other flights as of 4 p. m. EDT, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Monday’s cancellations brought the airline’s total flight cancellations since Friday to more than 2,200.
American’s operational woes, which it blamed on poor weather at its massive Dallas/ Fort Worth hub and tight staffing, peaked on Sunday when the airline canceled more than 1,000 flights. That’s more than one in three flights. American also delayed more than 400 flights on Sunday.
In a memo to employees on Saturday, American Chief Operating Officer David Seymour said the problems began late last week with heavy winds in Dallas, which reduced available runways at Dallas/ Fort Worth International Airport from five to two.
Add in bad weather in other cities and the airline ended up with flight crews out of place and insufficient reserves to fill in. Seymour said American proactively canceled flights to get its operation back on track.
It’s been a rough year for passengers as airlines struggle to ramp up operations to meet a post- COVID- 19 vaccination travel surge. Many airlines say domestic travel is back to pre- pandemic levels. Most are trying to hire and recall workers who took leave during the pandemic so they have more of a cushion when flights are disrupted by weather and other factors.
American’s meltdown comes less than a month after Southwest stranded passengers across the country and three months after Spirit Airlines canceled flights for seven consecutive days.
The Halloween weekend flight woes are American’s second spate of heavy cancellations. The airline struggled during Father’s Day weekend, forcing the airline to slash more than 1,000 July flights to give it more breathing room.