Dark skies are creating travel turmoil at the nation’s airports with thousands of flights canceled or delayed for extended periods due to severe storms.
In the Northeast there were more than 2,000 cancellations, and 7,000 delays Tuesday.
“It’s not raining at home and it’s not raining here so I’m just confused why planes are not flying,” complained delayed airline passenger Destiny Mayes.
“We’re just trying to get home to our baby,” said one desperate mother in Boston.
At New Jersey’s Newark airport, fed-up travelers demanded to speak with the manager as more delays and cancellations were announced.
“Now they’re giving us a flight for the 2nd of July. I can’t wait until July the 2nd, it’s like seven days, six days from now it’s ridiculous,” said delayed traveler William Lugo.
At Denver’s airport, stranded passengers were forced to sleep on cots.
“It looks like an apocalypse,” said stranded passenger Jessica Hurst. “It really does. Everybody just sprawled out on the floor.”
While the FAA blames the severe weather, airlines blame the FAA for lack of staffing. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby saying in a statement, “The FAA reduced the arrival rates by 40 percent and the departure rates by 75 percent. And calling weather, something that the FAA has historically been able to manage.”
The FAA fired back saying, “We will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem.”
“The challenges that the FAA has, not just with staffing but its technology systems, are well known. They’re real. The FAA is trying to address this, there’s only so much they can do though,” explained Henry Harteveldt with the Atmosphere Research Group. “They can’t snap their fingers and create new air traffic controllers. It’s just not that easy.”
Meanwhile, extreme heat in Texas and smoke from Canadian wildfires are back and could add to the travel problem as the holiday weekend approaches.
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