It was another day of chaos and cancellations for travelers in the US.
See here: Problems have been mounting since Saturday. In total, airlines have canceled more than 5,000 flights around the country over the past four days, with nearly 30,000 delays.
The usual suspects are to blame: Severe thunderstorms kicked things off, and then layer upon layer of mismanagement came into play. Stranded passengers blamed airlines; airlines blamed the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees air-traffic control centers; and the FAA pointed to lingering staffing shortages that have burdened the agency since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It's not unusual for the FAA and airlines to point fingers at one another when meltdowns like this happen. But late Monday, United's CEO was unusually blunt in blaming the agency.
"The FAA frankly failed us this weekend," said Scott Kirby in a memo to staff, noting that more than 150,000 passengers' flights have been disrupted on United alone.
On Saturday, Kirby says, the FAA reduced arrival rates at Newark Liberty International Airport by 40% and departure rates by 75% — "almost certainly a reflection of understaffing/lower experience at the FAA."
The FAA responded that "we will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem."
So just to be clear: We've got one of the nation's largest airlines openly feuding with the agency tasked with keeping planes from crashing into one another ... all before one of the busiest travel holidays of the year.
Oh yeah, let's not forget: The Fourth of July is one week away, and the TSA expects airports to be even busier than they were at the same time in 2019.
Everything's fine. *Inhale.* Everything's fine. *Exhale.*
Kirby has a point, certainly. Last week, a Department of Transportation watchdog released an audit laying out critical staff shortages that "pose a potential risk to air traffic operations."
That said, United isn't off the hook here.
On Tuesday, the union representing United's flight attendants said the cancellations and delays are being compounded by "unacceptable" internal issues such as wait times exceeding three hours for crews to receive their schedules.
"The levels of frustration are high and it feels as if there is no solution in sight," the Association of Flight Attendants said in a memo.
(Which is a good reminder for everyone: The next time your flight delay sends you into a rage, know that your flight crew is just as furious. Go and get another $20 margarita at the Terminal B Chili's and try to calm down. )
Kirby says he will be meeting with the FAA and Department of Transportation "to discuss what steps FAA can take in the immediate term to prevent this from happening again this summer."
BIG PICTURE
If you feel like air travel has sucked more than usual in the past two years, you're right. Traveling during a major holiday is more of a gamble now (see also: the Southwest holiday debacle of 2022) thanks to a collision of factors:
- Staffing. The pandemic's initial shock halted travel and prompted airlines to encourage retirement and buyouts, especially among older pilots and crew members. Hiring has resumed, but some experts say there's a lack of experience underpinning some of the chaos.
- More demand, fewer flights. Travelers are still making up for lost time after three years of Covid. That pent-up demand is meeting seriously constrained supply, as airlines have reduced the number of flights they're running to avoid, well, the exact chaos we're seeing play out right now.
- Climate change. Droughts, storms, wildfires and heat waves are becoming more intense and more frequent, and there's little the airlines or the FAA can do when the skies are simply too dangerous to fly in.
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