Prior to the busy Fourth of July travel weekend, Delta Air Lines issued a warning to its passengers about possibly difficult flight interruptions. The warning comes as the airlines and other US carriers rush to deal with a surge of cancellations.
The Atlanta-based airline announced that, as long as clients keep the same point of departure and destination, they may rebook their flights from July 1 through July 4 without incurring any ticket discrepancies or change costs.
Due to client levels not seen since before the epidemic, Delta announced the policy while cautioning customers about additional scheduling issues for the holiday weekend.
Delta said in a statement that its employees were working around the clock to reconstruct the airline’s operations while making them as robust as possible to lessen the effects of interruptions.
“However, some operational difficulties are anticipated over the holiday weekend.”
The airline added: “This special waiver is being offered to give Delta customers greater flexibility to plan around busy travel periods, weather forecasts, and other variables without worrying about a potential cost to do so.”
The number of US flight cancellations has increased recently as airlines struggle with a lack of available pilots and flight attendants as well as rapidly rising fuel prices. Following COVID-19 pandemic-related delays, consumers’ desire to keep traveling this summer coincided with the interruptions.
Prior to the Fourth of July rush, airlines were already having trouble, canceling hundreds of flights this week. Would-be travelers were previously stuck throughout the Father’s Day, Juneteenth, and Memorial Day weekends due to travel difficulties.
Schedules on the East Coast are being severely hampered by a persistent staffing deficit among Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers, according to Airlines for America, a trade group that represents significant corporations in the sector.
This Fourth of July, around 3.55 million Americans are anticipated to fly, according to AAA’s prediction. Although the sum was up 1.5% from the previous year, it was nevertheless down 9.3% from pre-pandemic air travel for the vacation in 2019.
Tuesday saw 58 flights by Delta cancelled, either domestically or abroad. In addition, the airline missed 469 flights, or 16% of its total schedule.
