Travelers continue to face flight cancellations at New York City area airports the day after Christmas as the Omicron variant infections forced additional staffing problems for airlines.
Since Friday, US airlines have been forced to cancel more than 1,500 domestic flights, according to a CNBC tally. Airlines United, Delta, American and JetBlue have blamed their current staffing concerns on the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
By 7:00 a.m. Sunday, nearly 75 flights had already been canceled at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports.
FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, noted nearly 1,000 canceled flights entering, departing, or within the US.
European and Australian airlines also canceled flights over the Christmas season due to COVID-related staffing issues.
For travelers, that meant time away from loved ones, airport chaos, and the stress of spending hours online and on the phone trying to rebook flights. Peter Bockman, a retired actor, and his daughter Malaika, a university student, were supposed to be in Senegal on Saturday celebrating with relatives they hadn’t seen in a decade. But their 7:30 p.m. Friday flight from New York to Dakar was canceled, which they only learned when they arrived at the airport. They were there until 2:00 am trying to rebook a flight.
“No one was organizing, trying to fix things,” he said, blaming Delta for the lack of customer service. “Nobody explained anything. Not even, ‘Oh we’re so sorry, here’s what we can do to help you.’
Their new flight, for Monday night, has a layover in Paris, and they are concerned that there will be problems with that flight as well. And they already missed a big family reunion that was scheduled for Saturday.
Flight delays and cancellations linked to staff shortages have been a common problem for the US airline industry this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and this year they found themselves understaffed as travel recovered.
To alleviate staff shortages, countries such as Spain and the United Kingdom have reduced the duration of COVID-19 quarantines by allowing people to return to work before testing positive or being exposed to the virus.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian was among those who called on the Biden administration to take similar action or risk more disruptions to air travel. On Thursday, the US shortened COVID-19 isolation rules only for healthcare workers.
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