28 June 2023 , 18:22
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Furious passengers were left stranded across America as thousands of flight cancellations and delays were made and travel is expected to peak tomorrow.
Airlines appear to be struggling to keep up with increasing numbers of passengers ahead of the Fourth of July weekend leaving some people stuck for a day and a half.
Jack Billotte, stuck at Newark Airport, New Jersey, said his United Airlines flights kept getting cancelled.
He told ABC: "I have been here for a day and a half trying to get back to Denver. I tried five different flights through United and they've all been cancelled.
"I'm just trying to get another airline. They told me to wait in the customer service line to get a hotel voucher, but the line is a 12-hour wait."
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Travelers check in at the Spirit Airline ticket counters at Terminal B in Newark International Airport (AP)Jack's flight plight is similar to thousands of travelling passengers on the East Coast.
About 6,500 flights were delayed and about 1,900 were cancelled on the East Coast on Tuesday. United Airlines, with a major hub in Newark, New Jersey, scrapped about 500 flights or 18% of its schedule, and JetBlue cancelled 16% of its flights, according to FlightAware.
Cancellations and delays were most severe in the region and were growing worse rapidly early today. Disruptions are expected to spread Westwards.
Bad weather is also having an impact (The Weather Channel)United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby blamed a shortage of federal air traffic controllers for massive disruptions last weekend at its Newark hub.
"We estimate that over 150,000 customers on United alone were impacted this weekend because of FAA staffing issues and their ability to manage traffic,"
The FAA has admitted it is understaffed in some key areas and is training 3,000 new air traffic controllers.
An airline agent helps travellers in the departures area of Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport (AP)The Transportation Department's inspector general said in a report that the FAA has made only "limited efforts" to adequately staff critical air traffic control centres and does not have a plan to tackle the problem.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg - the FAA is within his brief - has blamed airlines for failing to provide adequate customer service.
Margo and Jason Osborne are two United passengers who are less than pleased with the customer service they received.
Delayed travelers sleep under the flight display screens at Terminal C in Newark International Airport (AP)Unable to find another flight from Newark, Margo said they were then unable to pick up their bags and would have to wait until they were eventually able to find a flight.
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A United worker "made me feel like an idiot," Margo said, for leaving needed medical supplies in a checked bag.
They saw other people looking for unaccompanied minors and heard about stranded travellers who spent hours in line or slept at the airport.
People await the rescheduling of their flights at Newark (Getty Images)"All these poor people are literally just sitting there at the mercy of a company who is not doing anything to help them," Margo said in an interview. "There is zero customer service right now."
The Osbornes rented a car - they felt lucky to snag one - and drove 10 hours through the night to Charlotte, North Carolina, to catch an American Airlines flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, close to home.
A delayed traveler sleeps on the floor near the United Airlines ticket desk at Terminal C in Newark (AP)Their luggage finally got to New Orleans on Tuesday.
The delays are being compounded by thunderstorms that raked the Northeast on Tuesday.
At various times, the Federal Aviation Administration held up flights bound for LaGuardia Airport in New York and Reagan Washington National and Baltimore-Washington airports near the nation's capital.
Travel has picked up steadily every year since bottoming out during the pandemic and on Tuesday, the number of people flying neared 2.4 million, up 11% from last year on the same day, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Travel is expected to peak tomorrow (AP)Travel is expected to peak on Thursday with more than 52,500 total flights, likely the biggest travel day of the holiday period.
People whose travel plans were disrupted took to social media to vent against the airlines. Some swore they would never fly again on whichever airline had done them wrong.
Passenger Brad Collins who is hoping to fly home to New Orleans said: "I just want to get home to my family."