The Fourth of July weekend will test, to the max, this week's already poor performance of the U.S. airline industry.
"They cancelled it randomly with no reason, no warning. They put me for the following day, and they couldn't even give me a direct flight I had originally, I had to go all the way to San Diego and catch a connecting flight to here," Herrera said.
Despite $54 billion in federal pandemic support handed over to the nation's airlines to keep people working, the airlines offered buyouts and early retirements. Add to that, many of their oldest planes were taken out of service. Now, airlines find themselves with a shortage of staffing in general and a growing shortage of pilots with a long period of retraining for replacements. The result: the number of seats available is about 10% lower than before the pandemic.
On the other end, the FAA reports a lack of air traffic controllers. Throw in bad weather at any of several key airports such as Atlanta, Chicago, or New York, and chaos is sure to ensue. "Go to flightrights.gov and get more information about what you are owed in the event that you get stuck, and the airlines are responsible. What you can expect in terms of hotels, meals, vouchers," said U.S.You do have rights. It's better to review them before you fly than scramble to look them up when bad luck strikes.
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