Travelers share weekend woes as thousands of flights delayed, canceled
With thousands of flights delayed or canceled across the U.S., frustration boiled over for passengers who ended up with long waits at airports or found themselves without a flight for days.
The problems impacted flyers on numerous U.S. carriers this weekend, but travelers on JetBlue, Southwest and American Airlines had the most problems this weekend. All three carriers have a significant presence in Florida, where severe weather has helped fuel delays and cancellations. Miami International Airport (MIA), Orlando (MCO) and Tampa (TPA) were among the airports with the most disruptions.
By Sunday afternoon, data from FlightAware showed JetBlue had canceled more than 300 flights Sunday, more than 30% of its schedule. This comes a day after the airline canceled 15% of its flights and more than half were delayed. In a statement to TPG, JetBlue blamed a combination of weather and issues related to air traffic control for the mass disruption.
TPG has heard from dozens of travelers impacted by the disruptions on our social media pages.
Related: Alaska Airlines cancels nearly 200 flights in 2 days
Michael Mosley told TPG he's stuck in Florida for the next couple of days after his JetBlue flight from Orlando International Airport to New York-LaGuardia Airport (LGA) got canceled last night. Mosely said he had to wait hours to be re-booked, at which point the soonest available flight was Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m.
Related: Tips to overcome delays and cancellations
"Many have been stuck at the airport since (Saturday) afternoon with no chance of getting out (Sunday)," he said.
He's not alone. Here's some of what we heard from other travelers on social media:
Bernice M. found herself stuck in Miami after her American Airlines flight got canceled, with no options until this coming week. "Ended up getting a flight to ATL and making a 12 hour drive home," she said.
Mike N. said he slept on the floor in Atlanta after a cancellation en route to Milwaukee.
Javier C. says he spent "all day waiting on standby" Friday after his early morning flight from Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International (FLL) got canceled.
Amy G. was supposed to fly JetBlue from York-John F. Kennedy International (JFK) to Tampa (TPA) but after a three-hour delay, the flight got canceled. After getting automatically re-booked on a late Monday night flight out of Westchester County Airport (HPN), she re-booked a flight on United for Monday.
Erin B. was departing from Orlando and said she "was one of the lucky ones" to get where she was going. "6 hours late, but I'll take it," she added.
Xuan L. got delayed six hours at Chicago-Midway Airport (MDW) where she described the situation as being like a "zoo." She said, "At one point 3 flights were booked to the same gate at the same departure time."
Linda C. said her flight out of Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) "got canceled after we sat on the plane for over three hours. It was a mess! No flights available for 3 days back to BWI!"
Andrew A. and his wife got "stuck in Hartford" with the next available flight still 27 hours away. His son spent 12 hours stuck at BWI.
We're eager to hear what travelers' experiences were this weekend. Feel free to share a comment with TPG on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Also, be sure to check out our story detailing ways to cope with delays and cancellations. We will continue to monitor these developments as airlines try to get their operations back on track.
(Featured photo by Getty Images)
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