Travel pain increases on the holiday of July 4th
Americans will be at home this July 4th due to high gas prices and airport turmoil.
Millions of travelers crammed into the airport on holiday weekends,Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled, confusing many travelers{ I encountered 85}.
The Transportation Security Administration estimates that more than 6 million people have been screened between Friday and Sunday. This is close to the pre-pandemic level. With nearly 2.5 million passengers screened on Friday alone, it has been the busiest day at US airports since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
This is in the midst of rising demand, staff shortages and soaring gas prices, and the combination is{95. } I had a headache. Hundreds of thousands of travelers. According to FlightAware, the flight tracking website, nearly 17,000 flights were delayed over the weekend and more than 1,400 were cancelled.
One of the frustrated passengers is Alam Khan, whose flight from New Jersey to Toronto was canceled a few days before the wedding.
"We just got here, they just informed us that it was canceled," Khan said.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Butigeg has been pressured to deal with the turmoil.
"This is affecting us all, and when it happens, it's affecting the economy, because so many people are in the places they need to work. It's unreachable and many people can't reach their loved ones, "he told CBS" Sunday Morning. "
Butigeg is calling on airlines to improve, noting that the industry received $ 54 billion in bailouts during the heyday of the pandemic.
"We sent a lot of taxpayer funds, especially for the purpose of continuing to hire people on these airlines," he said. "And now they need to have people and they need to have the resources to take people to where they need to go."
This year , More flights have been delayed than any other year in the last 10 years. Staff shortages are one of the biggest factors, especially for pilots. Just last Thursday, theDelta pilots protested nationwide to demand higher wages and better working conditions.
The mayhem at the airport may be the reason why 42 million Americans chose to detour the airport completely this holiday and hit the road instead —Despite record high gas prices.
That's what Khan finally did to allow her to attend her wedding. He drove to Toronto for over nine hours after the rebooked flight from Newark was also cancelled.
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