Passengers choosing American Airlines faced another day of trouble on Monday right after a weekend full of cancellations. This is what’s happening.
The American Airlines mass cancellation problem
American Airlines canceled about 14 percent of its flight schedules, bringing the canceled flight numbers over 411 on Monday alone. Additionally, over 500 other flights of the airline were delayed. It brings up the total of over 2,200 canceled flights since Friday. These are being blamed on bad weather and staffing issues in the Dallas/Fort Worth hub. The numbers peaked on Sunday where they canceled over 1,000 flights. The airline’s meltdown follows the case where Spirit Airlines canceled flights for a week and left passengers stranded in the southwest.
Why is this happening?
On Sunday alone one in every three flights was canceled. According to David Seymour, the Chief Operating Officer of the airlines, the issue began by the end of last week due to heavy winds in Dallas. This lowered visibility in runways of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It start with a visibility of 5 and then progressed to a 2. The mix of both bad weather across several US cities in addition to low flight crews was the reason behind this.
After all staff shortage due to the holidays and insufficient reserve is a major issue. According to Seymore, the airlines are choosing to proactively cancel flights and worked on bringing the operation back on track. The Halloween weekend is one of the major festivities in America and the reason behind mass cancellations. A similar struggle took place in July during Father’s day break. Additionally, the pandemic has been rough on both the airlines and passengers, making air travel a struggle with COVID-19 measures.