Memorial Day Nightmare Ensues as Airlines Cancel Over 7000 Flights

What Passengers Can Do to Get Compensated

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The Memorial Day holiday weekend is proving a messy one for many airlines, with carriers canceling thousands of flights worldwide, including hundreds in the U.S. on Monday, as was reported by CBS News.

The AP reported that about 1,460 flights had been canceled as of 7 p.m. EDT Sunday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. That followed more than 2,300 cancellations Friday and another 1,500 on Saturday.

Nearly 450 of Sunday’s cancellations involved aircraft scheduled to fly to or from U.S. cities.

Delta Air Lines canceled the most flights among major U.S. airlines, with more than 250 flights, or 9% of its operations, eliminated Saturday. The AP reported that one hundred and sixty Delta flights were canceled by Sunday evening, according to FlightAware.

Saturday’s cancellations were due to bad weather and “air traffic control actions,” Atlanta-based Delta said in an email to The Associated Press, noting it’s trying to cancel flights at least 24 hours in advance of the Memorial Day weekend. Delta told CBS News that “around 90%” of its customers who had a cancelled flight Sunday were rebooked on a flight “later in the day.”

Delta announced on its website on Thursday that from July 1 to Aug. 7, it would reduce service by about 100 daily departures, primarily in parts of the U.S. and Latin America that Delta frequently serves, according to the AP report.

“More than any time in our history, the various factors currently impacting our operation — weather and air traffic control, vendor staffing, increased COVID case rates contributing to higher-than-planned unscheduled absences in some work groups — are resulting in an operation that isn’t consistently up to the standards Delta has set for the industry in recent years,” Delta’s Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband said in a post.

CBS News reported that on Monday, 1,634 flights had been canceled as of 11:52 p.m. ET, according to  FlightAware. That followed roughly 1,640 cancellations on Sunday, 1,500 on Saturday and 2,300 on Friday. More than 400 of Monday’s cancellations involved aircraft scheduled to fly to or from U.S. cities.

CBS News reported that among other U.S. carriers, by Monday afternoon American Airlines had cancelled 121 flights, or 3% of its operations, according to FlightAware.

Airlines and tourist destinations are anticipating monster crowds this summer as travel restrictions ease and pandemic fatigue overcomes lingering fear of contracting COVID-19 during travel.

Many forecasters believe the number of travelers will match or even surpass levels in the good-old, pre-pandemic days, according to the CBS report.  However, airlines have thousands fewer employees than they did in 2019, and that has at times contributed to widespread flight cancellations.

People who are only now booking travel for the summer are experiencing the sticker shock.

CBS News reported that domestic airline fares for summer are averaging more than $400 for a round trip, 24% higher than this time in 2019, before the pandemic, and a robust 45% higher than a year ago, according to travel-data firm Hopper.

Internationally, fares are also up from 2019, but only 10%. Prices to Europe are about 5% cheaper than before the pandemic — $868 for the average round trip, according to Hopper. Keyes said Europe is the best travel bargain out there. That is partly due to some travelers’ concerns about traveling to the region due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, which means Western Europe is a buyer’s market for the moment, according to CBS.

Flight disruptions can be caused by any number of factors including inclement weather, heavy air traffic, security issues and more recently, labor shortages. Travelers, however, do have legitimate recourse when dealing with carriers.

According to a report on the USNews.com web site, Brett Snyder, president of the Cranky Concierge air travel assistance service told the publication, “In the event of a delay, the best thing to do is everything. Get in line to talk with an agent; while waiting, pick up your phone. Call your travel advisor or travel agent, or your travel insurance provider if you have those resources. If not, try to rebook yourself through the airline’s app, by phone or by using your Twitter or Facebook account to contact the airline’s customer service team.”

Typically, if your flight is canceled the majority of airlines will rebook you on the next flight available to your destination at no additional cost, according to the US News report. Depending on the reasons given as to why the flight you were booked on was cancelled, passengers in such situations are entitled not only to be booked on the next available flight, but they are entitled to be completely reimbursed for the initial price of their ticket. The refund comes in the form of a free credit voucher that one can use on any flight on the airline that was responsible for the cancellation. The voucher is valid for 12 months from the time it was issued.

US News reported that locating seats on a new flight may be difficult and your arrival time may be delayed significantly. As a traveler, you’ll need to decide if the timing will work for your plans, or if you’ll need to request a refund for future travel.

While you’re waiting to speak with someone, also research your airline’s partner carriers, especially if you’re traveling internationally. “Take American Airlines [as an example],” Snyder says, as was reported by USNews.com.  “If you are going to Europe and there’s a problem on one of their flights, you can say they should put you on British Airways.”

Also speaking to the US News was Christian Nielsen, chief legal officer of AirHelp, a resource for air passenger rights. He said:  “Disruptions caused by extraordinary circumstances out of the airlines’ control are not covered, such as weather conditions or political unrest.”

Nielsen also told US News that a European law known as EC 261 requires that airlines reimburse passengers between 250 to 600 euros depending on how long the flight has been delayed and the expected distance of the flight. The USNews.com report indicated that the law also ensures passengers are compensated if they’re denied boarding. Additionally, passengers will be reimbursed for cancellations that occur within 14 days of their scheduled departure that cause them to get to their final destination two-plus hours after their original arrival time.

USNews.com reported that services like AirHelp make it easy for travelers to file complex compensation claims and follow up with legal action. As payment, the company takes a percentage of the compensation recovered as their fee.