About 90 flights canceled at Atlanta's airport on Memorial Day
ATLANTA - Airline travelers are not only facing sticker shock at the pump this Memorial Day weekend, the kickoff to the summer travel season. They’re also dealing with a pileup of flight cancellations.
More than 2,500 flights were canceled as of early Monday evening, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. At least 84 of those flights were in Atlanta.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines suffered the most among U.S. airlines. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where Delta is based and has its largest hub, experienced heavy travel delays.
Delta noted the cancellations were due to bad weather and "air traffic control actions," noting it is trying to cancel flights at least 24 hours in advance this Memorial Day weekend. The airline was offering vouchers to change flights for free over the weekend because of the weather.
Passengers wait in line at the Delta Air Lines check-in at Atlanta's airport on Memorial Day 2022. (FOX 5)
Delta announced on Thursday from July 1 to Aug. 7, it would reduce service by about 100 daily departures, primarily in parts of the U.S. and Latin America that Delta frequently serves.
"More than any time in our history, the various factors currently impacting our operation — weather and air traffic control, vendor staffing, increased COVID case rates contributing to higher-than-planned unscheduled absences in some work groups — are resulting in an operation that isn’t consistently up to the standards Delta has set for the industry in recent years," said Delta’s Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband in a post.
Airlines and tourist destinations are anticipating monster crowds this summer as travel restrictions ease and pandemic fatigue overcomes lingering fear of contracting COVID-19 during travel.
Many forecasters believe the number of travelers will match or even surpass levels in the good-old, pre-pandemic days. However, airlines have thousands fewer employees than they did in 2019, and that has at times contributed to widespread flight cancellations.
Cancellations fill the flight schedule board at Atlanta's airport on Memorial Day 2022. (FOX 5)
People who are only no booking travel for the summer are experiencing the sticker shock.
Domestic airline fares for summer are averaging more than $400 for a round trip, 24% higher than this time in 2019, before the pandemic, and a robust 45% higher than a year ago, according to travel-data firm Hopper.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.