THOUSANDS face Labor Day travel woes more than a hundred flights are canceled and even more are delayed amid the busiest travel weekend since the start of the pandemic.
Airlines and airports have blamed staffing shortages, bad weather, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ground stops and even today’s failed shuttle launch for the travel chaos.
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The delays and cancellations spell misery for thousands as experts predict that more Americans will travel via air and car this weekend than at any time since the pandemic began.
AAA spokesperson Ellen Edmonds told the Washington Post that bookings for domestic travel, which included flights, cars, cruises, hotels, and tours, are up 22 percent over Labor Day weekend in 2021.
The travel-booking app, Hopper, predicted that 12.8 million Americans will fly domestically from Thursday to Monday.
International travel is up by 102 percent since COVID restrictions declined, with a total of 1.8 million travelers going abroad.
“It’s going to be busier than last Labor Day weekend,” Emily Nipps, spokesperson for Tampa International Airport told WFTS.
“We are definitely seeing some days, some peak days that are actually higher than we saw pre-pandemic.”
Today, 105 flights within, into, or out of the United States have been canceled according to FlightAware.
A total of 1,622 US flights have been delayed.
Passengers facing long delays and cancellations have shared their fury at having their holiday weekends ruined.
“It was very frustrating because we were late; the first plane was late, then we were trying to get there back on time, and then the second plane was late,” Garvin Zephyrin told WFTS.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has recently created an Airline Customer Service Dashboard where passengers can look for perks and accommodations if their flights are delayed or canceled.
“If you’re saying, ‘hey, it was our fault. We messed up,’ that’s great,” said Zephyrin.
“That’s great. You’re going to, ‘this is what we can do for you.’ Now, we know, and honestly, I feel more comfortable flying with that airline because I know I don’t have to fight with you to get what’s due to me.”
With about 340,000 travelers moving through the Tampa International Airport, it will be a very busy weekend for airlines across the country.
“About 60,000 passengers a day on average are going to be coming through the airport,” said Nipps.
Nipps said: “Anything from a pop-up storm to a shuttle launch can delay flights because that fills up the Florida air space.”
However, delays are not expected to be as bad as they have been in recent months, according to travel experts.
“FAA, the airlines, everybody is doing their part making sure we get back to normal as soon as possible, and we’re seeing a huge improvement,” Nipps said.
The Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) will see 481,000 travelers this weekend, ABC6 reported.
They spoke to a traveler who has actually seen an improvement in airport flight fuss.
“I feel like there’s not that many delays and canceled flights anymore,” Shondra Borges said.
There will actually be a drop in travelers on Sunday, PHL officials said.
If you are traveling through PHL, try to get a ride as parking is limited in on-site garages and the economy lot, according to officials.
The Tampa International Airport is also having difficulty accommodating passengers who park.
“We have some construction going on that’s impacting our short-term garage. So there will be peak times where we will be diverting people away from the short-term garage and then having them park in the long-term garage,” said Nipps.
You could opt to reserve a parking spot online for the Tampa airport and it’s reportedly cheaper.
