“We slept here,” said Beth Martin, trying to travel home to Birmingham, Alabama, from New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday.
As cnbc.com reported, air travel across the U.S. continued to experience rolling setbacks on Sunday, following a more than four-hour nationwide departure halt by the Federal Aviation Administration two days prior while carriers worked frantically to reposition planes and personnel.
Martin and her daughter were booked for Saturday night, but when delay announcements rolled in from Delta Air Lines, they made the best of the extra time by strolling through Central Park and window shopping on Fifth Avenue, according to cnbc.com.
More than 1,600 U.S. flights were canceled as of 7 a.m. ET on Sunday and nearly 1,400 were delayed, FlightAware data shows. According to cnbc.com, that figure paled in comparison to the nearly 6,700 cancellations on Saturday and upwards of 9,200 on Sunday when the FAA halted all departures into U.S. airports.
Brett Snyder, president of travel planning service Cranky Concierge, told ABC News on Saturday that flight schedules would likely not return to normal until Monday at the earliest, as kvnutalk.com reported.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tied the issue on Saturday to a router and work to update from copper wires to a fiber-optic system. Kvnutalk.com said that FAA administrator Bryan Bedford described the updates as standard maintenance aimed at transitioning to fiber optics, with cnbc.com adding that full system recovery was anticipated by Sunday.
Airlines Waive Fees and Offer Extra Pay to Manage Delays
Airlines waived change fees and fare differences while offering pilots and flight attendants extra pay to ease the delays, cnbc.com reported. American Airlines announced Saturday that it was adding fare caps across domestic and short international flights as delays continued, kvnutalk.com reported. United Airlines and Southwest Airlines joined Delta and American in offering travelers waivers.
Customers told cnbc.com they were booked on several flights before finally getting on board. Justine Fritz, a sales worker for a consumer goods company caught in New York for a business event on Friday, tried five different flights before securing a seat to Houston, taking her four hours out of her way to get back to Minneapolis after her Saturday flight was canceled, cnbc.com reported.
Fritz said she had so many boarding passes that TSA initially blocked her from entering security.
“It’s been bananas.”
Fritz told cnbc.com at the gate, adding that she missed the first hour of the Minnesota Vikings game.
Snyder told ABC News on Saturday that travelers facing significant delays should evaluate whether to continue waiting. “If this was a trip that was going to be short and fun and not a big deal, I’d scrap it,” Snyder said, according to kvnutalk.com. He recommended that passengers remaining at airports stay close to updates via airline applications, keep track of connecting flights, and remain courteous to frontline personnel.
| Airline | Action Taken | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | Waived change fees, offered crew extra pay | cnbc.com |
| American Airlines | Added fare caps, issued travel waivers | kvnutalk.com |
| United Airlines | Issued customer waivers | kvnutalk.com |
| Southwest Airlines | Issued customer waivers | kvnutalk.com |
Duffy told reporters Saturday that the federal government was working around the clock to help carriers and airports manage the disruptions and restore normal service, kvnutalk.com reported. “You will continue to see some delays and cancellations as carriers reschedule flights and reposition aircraft/crews where they are needed most,” Duffy wrote in a post on X on Saturday, according to kvnutalk.com.
For Martin and her daughter, the journey home required an alternative routing arranged by Delta to Memphis, where Martin’s husband planned to drive four hours from Birmingham to complete the trip, cnbc.com reported.
“Our top priority right now is making sure travelers get home safely to their families as quickly as possible,” Duffy said on Saturday, according to kvnutalk.com.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Earlier coverage: FAA Issues Nationwide Ground Stop Due to Air Traffic Control Communication Issues
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