AMERICAN AIRLINES CANCELED HUNDREDS OF FLIGHTS, LEAVING SOUTH FLORIDA TRAVELERS STRANDED
Thousands of travelers were left stranded in Florida when American Airlines had to cancel many of its flights due to weather, staff constraints, and more!
Cancelations and delays began on Friday and worsened by Sunday due to the disruptions caused in flight schedules after severe thunderstorms. The staff constraints caused a failure to control the situation, resulting in frequent flight delays and an increasing number of cancellations in the upcoming days. The disruptions continued till Tuesday afternoon and started leveling off, as reported by the flight tracking site, Flight Aware.
More than 1800 American Airlines flights, 60% of Spring Airlines scheduled flights, and some of the United Airlines and Jet Blue Airways flights were canceled, making nearly 3000 flights cancelations between Sunday and Tuesday.
Travelers flooded social media with complaints as they faced difficulty reaching customer service and had no idea how extensive the delays were expected to be. A tweet by the American Airlines representative explained things to their customers,
“Mother Nature isn’t playing nicely, and many flights in and out Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport are delayed or canceled.”
Passengers were combative as they faced difficulty in finding ways to reach their destinations.
Pablo Morales is among thousands of travelers facing the impacts of flight fiasco. He said that his flight got delayed twice, and it got canceled twice. In addition, a local resident Alan had a trip planned to Orlando, which was canceled. He received a message that said the flight had crew issues and it couldn’t leave without a full crew.
According to the Transportation Department, airlines are not required to provide hotel accommodation or food vouchers for travelers whose flights are canceled.
“Passengers understand that airlines don’t control the weather but the mark of a good airline is how it treats passengers when the chips are down,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of travel-industry consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group and a former airline executive.
Thousands of Americans are stuck scrambling for solutions. Every traveler has their own story of frustration and problems. People argued that the airline should have planned accordingly because passengers are the ones who are suffering as they are stuck wasting their time and money.
