These 20 US airports had the worst delays last summer

A recent analysis reveals the airports with the longest "queuing" times. Customers hate to wait in line anywhere. Airports can be among the most difficult of those places. People are loaded down with luggage. They have to take off their shoes and coats. X-rayed bags sometimes cause officials to rifle through people’s personal property. All these waiting times added together are called “queuing.” This includes checking in, dropping off bags, gate delays and passport control on international flights. Based on these measures, the worst airport in the United States is Newark International Airport, one of three that serves the New York metro area. The other two are LaGuardia and Kennedy. (These are America’s 26 worst airports.) Vacation rental firm Casago ranked airports on queuing duration based on Skytrax ratings. Airports were given grades 1 to 5, with 5 as the best. From that, the survey picked the percentage of 4 or 5 ranked airports to create rankings. Newark’s percentage of these high grades was only 9.09%. At the far end of the spectrum was Portland at 61.29%. The queuing duration problem will not get better and could get worse. Carriers have been overwhelmed. After cutting pilots and flight crews and parking aircraft for months due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, they saw travelers come streaming back, eventually in record numbers. Carriers were not prepared for such a rapid rebound. And this surge, made worse by unusual amounts of bad weather across much of the country, has made wait times nearly intolerable. A spike in summer storms means this problem will last beyond Labor Day, usually considered the end of summer. 24/7 Wall St. States Benefitting the Most (and Least) From Biden’s Infrastructure Policies wallst_recirc_link_tracking_init( "78687674364d639fda5839", "graphic" ); These are America’s worst airports: Newark International (9.09%) Daniel K. Inouye International (9.72%) Seattle-Tacoma International (12.38%) Salt Lake City International (13.33%) Miami International (14.12%) Sponsored: Find a Qualified Financial Advisor Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to 3 fiduciary financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now......»»

The summer season is difficult for air travel, and 2023 will be no different. Avoid these airports for the best experience. Three of the top five worst airports for summer travel are located in Florida.Aaron McCoy/The Image Bank via Getty Images Three of the five worst airports for summer travel are in Florida, with Sanford Airport being the worst. Lihue Airport in Hawaii has been ranked the best airport in the US for summer travel. The ranking tracks delays of different kinds, cancellations, diverted flights, and airfare costs,  The busy summer travel season has always had the potential to be troublesome for airports and airlines. This summer, as global airline capacity is almost back to pre-pandemic levels, is no different. Forbes Advisor, a financial advisor platform, analyzed data from 100 US airports to compile a list of the 10 worst airports for summer travel based on on-time arrival performance and airfare price. The report gives the airports up to 100 points based on 10 metrics, including delays of different kinds, cancellations, diverted flights, and airfare costs, with delays carrying the most weight. The higher the score, the worse the performance. Florida, which is prone to thunderstorm weather, has three of the top five worst airports for summer travel. Lihue Airport in Hawaii, on the other hand, has been ranked the best one. Take a look at the ten worst airports for summer travel: 10. El Paso International Airport — El Paso, Texas: 80.17John Coletti/Getty Images9. McGhee Tyson Airport — Knoxville, Tennessee: 82.22halbergman/iStock / Getty Images Plus8. Colorado Springs Airport — Colorado Springs, Colorado: 82.90Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images7. Dallas Love Field Airport — Dallas, Texas: 86.56HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images6. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport — Cincinnati, Ohio: 89.01iStock / Getty Images Plus5. Bradley International Airport – Hartford, Connecticut: 89.52Patrick Raycraft/Tribune News Service via Getty Images via Getty Images4. Orlando International Airport – Orlando, Florida: 90.45Jerry Driendl/Photodisc/Getty Images3. Asheville Regional Airport – Asheville, North Carolina: 97.94Walter Bibikow/Getty Images2. St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport – St. Petersburg, Florida: 99.10Shutterstock.com1. Orlando Sanford International Airport – Sanford, Florida: 100Orlando Sanford International AirportRead the original article on Business Insider.....»»

As summer travel roars into high gear for 2023, let this list of the worst airports for delays last year guide you in booking travel this year. Delays and cancellations peaked during the summer of 2022, with the Friday of Memorial Day weekend recording a particularly high number of canceled flights.RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images Last summer, 22.9% of scheduled US flights arrived more than 15 minutes late at their destination.  During the summer of 2019, 18.2% of flights were delayed, only marginally better than in 2022.  Airports in New York and Orlando tend to record a high percentage of delays regardless of the year.  Memorial Day weekend is kicking off what's expected to be a very busy air travel season, and many are wondering: is it going to be as bad as last summer? During the summer of 2022 — the months stretching in between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend — 2.1% of flights were canceled, and 22.9% had a delay of more than 15 minutes, according to data provided to Insider by flight tracking company FlightAware.That's a minor increase compared to the summer of 2019 when 1.8% of the flights were canceled and 18.2% delayed, but the season was still perceived as a nightmare for air travel, with cancellations and delays peaking the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. While it's hard to know how things are going to go in the coming months — delays are often linked to unpredictable factors like the weather  — there are some airports that tend to be bad performers no matter the year, Kathleen Bangs, an aviation expert with FlightAware, told Insider. "We have definitely seen the New York triad high on the list," she said. "It's a very, very busy, but tight geographic airspace, with Canada to the North and the Atlantic Ocean to the South, and a lot of European travel coming and blending in."The Federal Aviation Administration has already predicted a 45% increase in delays in the New York region compared to last year and encouraged airlines to schedule fewer flights. "Orlando always tends to be high on the list too," Bangs added. "And part of the reason is that a lot of families with children are traveling out of the Orlando airport, and you are going to have slower TSA lines as you move through hundreds of children." Take a look at the 20 airports with the worst delays — calculated by the percentage of flights leaving the airport and arriving more than 15 minutes late to their destination — for the summer of 2022, ranked from best to worst: 20. Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport: 18.13%Associated Press19. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport: 18.25%Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images18. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport: 18.66%EQRoy/Shutterstock17. San Francisco International Airport: 20.13%JasonDoiy/iStock /Getty Images Plus16. George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Texas: 20.17%Justin Sullivan/Getty Images15. Los Angeles International Airport: 21.5%Eric Glenn/Shutterstock14. Chicago O'Hare International Airport: 21.56%tupungato/iStock13. Hartsfield - Jackson Atlanta International Airport: 23.31%Thomson Reuters12. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport: 24.88%BCFC/shutterstock11. Boston Logan International Airport: 25.35%Getty Images/Scott Eisen10. New York LaGuardia Airport: 25.98%Libby Torres/Insider9. Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport: 26.65%Usa-Pyon/Shutterstock8. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport: 26.70%Patrick Donovan7. Denver International Airport: 27.04%Scott Olson/Getty6. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport: 27.48%John Moore/Getty Images5. Charlotte Douglas International Airport: 27.96%Fang Deng/Shutterstock4. Miami International Airport: 30.48%Daniel Slim/Getty Images3. John F. Kennedy International Airport: 33.81%David Jay Zimmerman/Getty Images2. Orlando International Airport: 34.41%Jerry Driendl/Photodisc/Getty Images1. Newark Liberty International Airport: 34.85%Jeenah Moon / Stringer / GettyRead the original article on Business Insider.....»»

A cabin cleaner at Logan airport said it can take 45 minutes to clean a plane, but airlines sometimes ask his team to finish the job in 10 minutes. A worker at Boston Logan International Airport.David L. Ryan/Getty Images Some airport workers told Insider they felt the pressure this summer amid the travel chaos. One trash-truck driver said she had to fill in as a cabin cleaner because of the staff shortage. A cleaner at Logan airport said airlines sometimes ask his team to clean a plane in 10 minutes. Airport staff working behind the scenes say the travel chaos this summer has put them under pressure to work harder and fill in for other jobs.After letting workers go during the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline industry has struggled to handle the strong travel demand with a depleted workforce. The situation has left passengers stranded, forced crews to time out, and led to many flight delays and cancellations.It's also taken a toll on airport workers across the US. Truck drivers, wheelchair helpers, and cleaners in airports have all said the disruption this summer has been the worst it's ever been.Lashonda Barber, a trash-trucker driver who works for ground services company Jetstream at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, told Insider that she takes heavy garbage bags off at least 30 aircraft — sometimes more — every day. Flight delays mean planes arrive at similar times, forcing employees like Barber to work back-to-back.Barber said she has to remove around nine trash bags from planes with the help of another employee in 10 to 15 minutes. Her team has halved in size this summer to three workers after two quit and one was promoted, she said.Due to staffing issues, Barber is occasionally asked to step in as a cabin cleaner after she's removed trash from the plane. She said the airline gives her on average just seven minutes to clean the seats and toilets, check compartments, and dispose of garbage."That's not enough time to actually clean what they want you to clean," she said, referring to the airlines.This summer has been the worst because there aren't enough staff to do the job, Barber said. On top of this, she believes being paid $18.50 an hour isn't sufficient. She joined the Airport Workers United union, which represents 35,000 airport workers at 22 US airports, to demand pay raises. A representative from the union confirmed to Insider the wages of the workers who were interviewed and said it was about what someone in that role would be paid.Frantz Genisca is a cabin cleaner at Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts who works for aviation services company Swissport and is paid $18 an hour — around $4 above the state's minimum wage of $14.25 an hour.He told Insider it can take at least 30 minutes to clean a plane, but airlines have asked his team to finish the job in 10 minutes, which wasn't enough time to clean the whole aircraft properly."The airplanes have been arriving with a lot of trash and are often very, very dirty," Genisca said.He added that he once left some trash on the plane because he didn't have enough time, but got into trouble for it.The labor shortage this summer has posed issues for his team. When the planes arrive at the same time, there's a lot more work to do and one person ends up doing a job that four people should be doing, he said.Staffing issues have also been evident at Dallas Fort-Worth Airport in Texas, according to Larry Allen, a wheelchair agent for a Delta Air Lines contractor. He told Insider many older airport workers retired during the pandemic.At 69 years old, he earns $10 an hour with tips by pushing people in wheelchairs around the airport — from the gate all the way to the plane. The minimum wage in Texas is $7.25 an hour. Allen said he makes around 10 trips in a working day.Allen said the hardest thing about the job is pushing 250- to 300-pound people up a steep hill. He hustles for the tips by putting on a smile and being nice, he said."Minimum that they give you is $5, and if you do a really excellent job, you might make more, you might get $20," Allen said. "It's still not enough."A Delta spokesperson told Insider the airline has a "strong track record" of offering compensation and benefits to staff. Delta requires its vendors to also provide "fair and competitive compensation and maintain a proper working environment".Jetstream and Swissport didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Commercial-airline pilot Patrick Smith shares what it's been like behind the scenes at airports this summer, from staff shortages to mega queues. Patrick Smith flies a Boeing 767.Patrick Smith. Patrick Smith flies a Boeing 767 within the US and to Europe, South America, and Africa. He says the travel chaos this summer has been the worst he's seen in his 30 years of flying. This is his pilot's-eye view of the disruption, as told to Claire Turrell. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Patrick Smith, a commercial-airline pilot, the creator of "Ask The Pilot" and author of "Cockpit Confidential." It has been edited for length and clarity.I fly a Boeing 767 across the United States and to Western Europe, Africa, and South America. Flying a plane is something that I've wanted to do since I was a little kid.I used to spend my weekends watching planes fly in and out of my local airport from the observation deck. I've been a commercial pilot for 30 years now. There is a certain level of chaos at every airport right nowAirports are notorious for lines, but now it's on the scale of something I've never seen before — whether it's the customs line, the security line, the immigration line, or the line for coffee.I was recently flying out of Dublin and saw that the US immigration pre-clearance line extended across two floors.There seems to be a staffing issue across the board.In all my time as a pilot, I have never seen anything like thisAt the beginning of the pandemic, when airlines made decisions to reduce employee numbers, nobody knew what was going to happen.The industry — from the airlines to security and air-traffic control — was trying to save itself during an utter catastrophe. A lot of it was guesswork, and here we are.To help curb the issue, airlines have been preemptively canceling flights and reducing their schedules in certain airports that are prone to delays.British Airways stopped selling short-haul tickets for a few days during August 2022 for flights out of London Heathrow, while American Airlines reduced flights out of Philadelphia during September and October 2022 by 2%, which doesn't sound like a lot, but for an airline, that's a big number.I've also seen employees helping out and improvisingTimes are strange, and everyone needs to help out a little bit.  This summer, delays have affected my flights. If we know about a delay in advance, the crew will stay at the hotel, but sometimes we don't know about it until we reach the airport.For me, the most critical thing at this time is good communication between the airlines and their customers, whether it is letting people know about cancellations or helping them when there has been an unexpected cancellation.I spend between 12 and 16 days a month on the road. While I didn't fly as much during the pandemic, I still flew regularly. Now I am flying more as there is a lot of overtime for pilots on premium pay; they are also offering bonuses and incentives.It's actually a good time to get into the industry now as airlines are hiring a lot of pilots.The airline-training department is backlogged – it can take months to get back in the airVery few pilots were laid off during the pandemic, but many airlines reassigned their pilots, or put them on no-fly status if their fleet was eliminated, and many pilots retired early. Now they are all retraining to match the demand.When you're a pilot, you can't just switch aircraft; if you are trained to fly an Airbus, you can't just switch to a Boeing. You need to be retrained.We have pilots who need to be retrained on a particular aircraft, staff who are upgrading from first officer to captain, and pilots who are returning to flying status.I know a pilot who started his training in January and didn't finish until May. Retired pilots don't return; once you retire from an airline, due to age or a package settlement, there's no return ride.For travelers, I would say be patient and don't expect things to run smoothlyIf they do, that's a bonus. However, I don't want to make this sound worse than it is. I have worked flights that have been perfectly on time.I flew from Los Angeles to New York the other day; we left early and arrived early. It was just as it was pre-pandemic. What has kept me going this summer is being a flying evangelist. For me, getting there is still part of the fun.Don't get me wrong, I don't like long lines and delayed flights any more than the next person, but there is something about air travel that still excites me.Correction August 31, 2022: An earlier version of the story included a comment that the pilot helped load the carry-on bags onto the plane. This was a misquote and has been removed.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The 17 biggest US airlines canceled 3.20% of domestic flights between January and June, twice the rate in the first half of 2021. Only 62.08% of JetBlue Airways' scheduled flights arrived on time in the first half of 2022.AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images The 17 biggest US airlines canceled 3.20% of domestic flights between January and June. During the same time last year, they only canceled 1.58%, DOT data shows. Republic Airways, which operates some services for American, Delta, and United, canceled the most flights. Travelers have been forced to make last-minute changes to their vacations this summer as airlines canceled and delayed thousands of flights.Understaffing, technical problems, extreme weather, and soaring demand for travel have all pushed airlines to the limits. Overall, the US' 17 biggest airlines canceled more than 3% of domestic operations between January and June, compared to 1.58% during the same time period last year, according to data from the US Department of Transportation.Republic Airways, a regional carrier that operates some services as American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express, canceled the most flights in the first half of the year at 10,270, or 6% of its schedule, according to the DoT data. In June alone, it canceled 8.8% of its operations.Between January and June 2021, in comparison, Republic Airways canceled just 1.43% of its operations.Republic Airways was followed by JetBlue Airways, which canceled 5.39% of its operations in the first half of 2022, and Mesa Airlines, which canceled 4.48%. Allegiant Air came close behind with a 4.43% cancellation rate.The DoT data just takes into account cancellations that were made within a week of the flight's scheduled departure date, and not flights that were canceled further in advance than that.Here's the percentage of operations each airline canceled between January and June 2022, listed from worst to best:Republic Airways – 6.00%JetBlue Airways – 5.39%Mesa Airlines – 4.48%Allegiant Air – 4.43%PSA Airlines – 4.13%American Airlines – 3.88%Endeavor Air – 3.84%Spirit Airlines – 3.76%Alaska Airlines – 3.33%Frontier Airlines – 3.21%Envoy Air – 2.96%Southwest Airlines – 2.66%United Airlines – 2.44%Skywest Airlines – 2.36%Delta Air Lines – 2.20%Horizon Air – 1.98%Hawaiian Airlines – 0.97%Almost a quarter of all US flights were late in the first half of 2022AllegiantMarkus Mainka/ShutterstockOverall, 75.89% of domestic flights operated by US airlines arrived "on time" between January and June, classed as flights that arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled time, according to the DoT data.During the same time period in 2021, 84.29% of flights arrived on time. The DoT takes into all scheduled flights, and therefore classes flights that are diverted or canceled as flights that didn't arrive on time.Allegiant Air flights were most likely to be disrupted, with 38.37% arriving at least 15 minutes late or being canceled or diverted, the data shows. This figure is even higher when just June is taken into account, with just 59% of the airline's domestic flights arriving on time that month, per the DoT data.Allegiant Air was followed by JetBlue Airways, which had 62.08% of its scheduled flights arrive on time in the first half of 2022, and Frontier Airlines, at 64.50%.Across all airlines, afternoon and evening flights were the most likely to be delayed. The data shows that more than 80% of flights scheduled to depart from airports between 6:00 a.m. and 9:59 a.m. local time then arrived on time, compared to less than 60% of flights scheduled to depart between 7:00 p.m. and 10:59 p.m. local time.Some airports are much more prone to flight delays, too. Of the US' 30 largest airports, Chicago's Midway International Airport ranked worst for on-time departures, followed by Newark Liberty International Airport, and Baltimore/Washington International Airport.Here's the percentage of flights operated by each airline that arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time between January and June 2022, listed from lowest to highest:Allegiant Air – 61.63%JetBlue Airways – 62.08%Frontier Airlines – 64.50%Spirit Airlines – 69.31%Republic Airways – 73.15%Southwest Airlines – 73.87%PSA Airlines – 75.17%American Airlines – 75.33%Mesa Airlines – 77.15%Alaska Airlines – 77.28%United Airlines – 77.38%Skywest Airlines – 80.53%Endeavor Air – 80.59%Envoy Air – 80.71%Horizon Air – 80.85%Delta Air Lines – 81.03%Hawaiian Airlines – 82.14%Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Commercial-airline pilot Patrick Smith shares what it's been like behind the scenes at airports this summer, from staff shortages to mega queues. Patrick Smith flies a Boeing 767.Patrick Smith. Patrick Smith flies a Boeing 767 within the US and to Europe, South America, and Africa. He says the travel chaos this summer has been the worst he's seen in his 30 years of flying. This is his pilot's-eye view of the disruption, as told to Claire Turrell. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Patrick Smith, a commercial-airline pilot, the creator of "Ask The Pilot" and author of "Cockpit Confidential." It has been edited for length and clarity.I fly a Boeing 767 across the United States and to Western Europe, Africa, and South America. Flying a plane is something that I've wanted to do since I was a little kid.I used to spend my weekends watching planes fly in and out of my local airport from the observation deck. I've been a commercial pilot for 30 years now. There is a certain level of chaos at every airport right nowAirports are notorious for lines, but now it's on the scale of something I've never seen before — whether it's the customs line, the security line, the immigration line, or the line for coffee.I was recently flying out of Dublin and saw that the US immigration pre-clearance line extended across two floors.There seems to be a staffing issue across the board.In all my time as a pilot, I have never seen anything like thisAt the beginning of the pandemic, when airlines made decisions to reduce employee numbers, nobody knew what was going to happen.The industry — from the airlines to security and air-traffic control — was trying to save itself during an utter catastrophe. A lot of it was guesswork, and here we are.To help curb the issue, airlines have been preemptively canceling flights and reducing their schedules in certain airports that are prone to delays.British Airways stopped selling short-haul tickets for a few days during August 2022 for flights out of London Heathrow, while American Airlines reduced flights out of Philadelphia during September and October 2022 by 2%, which doesn't sound like a lot, but for an airline, that's a big number.I've also seen employees helping out and improvisingPilots don't usually carry people's luggage, but some of us have been doing it. I helped load the carry-on bags onto an airplane a few weeks ago to make sure we stayed on schedule.Times are strange, and everyone needs to help out a little bit.  This summer, delays have affected my flights. If we know about a delay in advance, the crew will stay at the hotel, but sometimes we don't know about it until we reach the airport.For me, the most critical thing at this time is good communication between the airlines and their customers, whether it is letting people know about cancellations or helping them when there has been an unexpected cancellation.I spend between 12 and 16 days a month on the road. While I didn't fly as much during the pandemic, I still flew regularly. Now I am flying more as there is a lot of overtime for pilots on premium pay; they are also offering bonuses and incentives.It's actually a good time to get into the industry now as airlines are hiring a lot of pilotsThe airline-training department is backlogged – it can take months to get back in the airVery few pilots were laid off during the pandemic, but many airlines reassigned their pilots, or put them on no-fly status if their fleet was eliminated, and many pilots retired early. Now they are all retraining to match the demand.When you're a pilot, you can't just switch aircraft; if you are trained to fly an Airbus, you can't just switch to a Boeing. You need to be retrained.We have pilots who need to be retrained on a particular aircraft, staff who are upgrading from first officer to captain, and pilots who are returning to flying status.I know a pilot who started his training in January and didn't finish until May. Retired pilots don't return; once you retire from an airline, due to age or a package settlement, there's no return ride.For travelers, I would say be patient and don't expect things to run smoothlyIf they do, that's a bonus. However, I don't want to make this sound worse than it is. I have worked flights that have been perfectly on time.I flew from Los Angeles to New York the other day; we left early and arrived early. It was just as it was pre-pandemic. What has kept me going this summer is being a flying evangelist. For me, getting there is still part of the fun.Don't get me wrong, I don't like long lines and delayed flights any more than the next person, but there is something about air travel that still excites me.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

CEO Alan Joyce apologized to passengers who had experienced delayed or canceled flights over the summer. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce speaks during an aviation event.David Gray/Getty Images Qantas is offering frequent fliers $34 vouchers and other perks as compensation for travel chaos. CEO Alan Joyce apologized to customers for flight delays, cancellations, and lost baggage on Sunday. Joyce said Qantas had had to deal with a "50% jump in sick leave," per multiple outlets. Qantas is offering vouchers, premium membership extensions, and access to business lounges to many of the passengers who have endured a summer of travel chaos. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce recorded a video message to customers, which was posted Sunday and shared by Executive Traveller. "The return to flying hasn't all gone smoothly. Over the past few months, too many of you have had flights delayed, flights canceled, or bags misplaced," Joyce said.Frequent flier members later received an email offering them 50 Australian dollars, or $34, in vouchers, an extension to Qantas 'silver membership by 12 months, and access to business lounges, as an apology for the travel disruption, per Reuters.As with other airlines, Qantas has been beset by operational challenges during its attempt to rebound from the pandemic. Its passengers have complained of difficulties handling baggage, inaccurate bookings, and long delays on its customer service phone line.  The airline's performance among Australian carriers for flight cancellations has been the worst over the summer, although it has improved in recent months. In July, Qantas canceled 6.2% of flights, down from 7.5% in June, according to data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research, which was cited by the Australian Financial Review.In the video message, Joyce added that the airline's performance was not good enough. He cited labor shortages as one reason for the problems.Qantas has hired 1,500 workers since April and adjusted schedules to have more crew and reserve available to deal with a "50% jump in sick leave," Joyce said in the video message. The airline was also rolling out new technology to make customers' journeys easier, he said.On August 8, the airline asked 100 senior office staff to step in as baggage handlers and assist customers at airports to help mitigate the shortfall. Around 200 volunteers have been working in airports since Easter, the airline told Insider. Qantas did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.Union bosses have criticized the compensation offer, pointing out that the group let thousands of workers go during the pandemic."Thousands of passengers who've spent hours in call center queues following canceled flights, delays, and lost luggage won't want to waste more of their time attempting to cash in a voucher to buy themselves more of the same chaos," Michael Kaine, general secretary of the Transport Workers Union Australia, said in a statement, posted Sunday.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

LaGuardia Airport ranked worst, with 7.7% of flights cancelled during the peak summer travel season, according to the data cited by Bloomberg. AirHelp's data showed that New York's LaGuardia Airport had the most flight cancellations in peak summer season, per Bloomberg.AP Data has revealed the 10 worst US airports for flight cancellations. LaGuardia Airport ranked worst, followed by Newark Liberty International, per the data. The data was compiled by German claims-management firm AirHelp and reported by Bloomberg. Flight cancellations are among passengers' biggest annoyances. Now, data has revealed which 10 US airports have cancelled the most flights this summer.It comes at a time when travelers around the world have suffered from delays, lost luggage, and of course, frequent cancellations as understaffed airlines struggle to cope with the travel industry's explosive demand as the pandemic recedes. There were almost 950 US flight cancellations on Sunday, per tracking site FlightAware. AirHelp, a German claims-management firm, which focuses on airline disruption claims, reviewed 37,000 cancellations across 400 airports in the country. The time period that the cancellations covered was during the peak summer travel season between May 27 and July 15, Bloomberg first reported.New York's LaGuardia Airport ranked worst, with 7.7% of all flights cancelled during this time, according to AirHelp data, which was cited in Bloomberg.Newark Liberty International in New Jersey followed closely behind, with 7.6% of flights cancelled between the end of May and mid-July, per the reported data.During the same period, 5.9% of flights were called off at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia, which came third in the rankings, the data showed.AirHelp's data showed Pittsburgh International Airport ranked fourth, with 4.1% of flights being cancelled between May-end and mid-July, Boston Logan International Airport scrapped 4% of flights, Bloomberg reported.Both Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport cancelled 3.8% of all their flights, per the data.Meanwhile, Miami International Airport and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport both called off 3.7% of all flights between May 27 and July 15, the reported data showed.Finally, John F. Kennedy International Airport had 3.6% of flights cancelled, according to the data.An AirHelp spokesperson told Bloomberg the company often sees more flight cancellations at airports with high traffic, especially across New York.AirHelp didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The Air France - KLM Group blamed blamed labor shortages at airports in Europe and the US as the primary reason behind flight cancellations. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 777-300.Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty Images Dutch carrier KLM has cancelled the most flights compared to other major European airlines.  KLM cancelled 5.8% of flights according to a list of 19 competitors, reported by Bloomberg. Compensation for flight delays cost the airline over $70 million during the second quarter of 2022. Air passengers globally have faced a summer of flight chaos, but those traveling with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have had it the worst. The Franco-Dutch carrier is Europe's worst airline for flight delays, according to data published by aviation research firm Cirium.KLM axed 5.8% of scheduled flights during the three months to July 26, according to Cirium's data, which was reported by Bloomberg. The data compared a select list of 19 airlines from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.By contrast, the next worst impacted airline was Lufthansa, which canceled just over 3% of flights in the same period.The data comes days after KLM's owner Air France-KLM Group revealed, in its second quarter results, that compensating customers for flight delays had cost it 70 million euros ($71 million) during the second quarter of 2022.Airlines globally have struggled to cope as pent-up travel demand rebounded post-pandemic, leading to a spate of flight delays, cancellations, and a backlog of unclaimed baggage. KLM blamed labor shortages at airports in Europe and the US as the primary cause of its operational difficulties. The airline has hub at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, which is among the top 10 European airports in terms of flight delays, according to the online travel agency Hopper. In July, KLM announced it was canceling up to 20 flights a day until the end of August, and limited the sale of its cheapest tickets in order to minimize disruption. Benjamin Smith, Air-France-KLM group CEO, said in the filing that while the group had prepared for pre-pandemic demand levels, the airlines are not immune to "major operational challenges" happening globally. "Customer satisfaction is at the top of our priorities and we know we have not fully been able to deliver the quality of service that has come to be expected from us," Smith said.KLM did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further comment on the data. Air France fared much better than its Dutch sibling, canceling 0.9% of flights during the same period, per Cirium data, reported by Bloomberg. While the data only represents a small subsection of the world's total aviation sector, the list of 19 major airlines mirrors the list of competitors that Qantas uses as a benchmark for its performance.Here's the list in full, ranked worst-performing to best-performing:Virgin Australia: 5.9%KLM: 5.8%Air New Zealand: 3.7%Qantas: 3.3%Lufthansa: 3.1%British Airways: 3.0%American Airlines: 2.6%United Airlines: 2.6%Delta Airlines: 2.5%Iberia: 1.4%Latam Airlines: 1.2%Air France: 0.9%Ryanair: 0.7%Japan Airlines: 0.6%ANA: 0.5%Southwest Airlines: 0.5%AirAsia: 0.3%Cathay Pacific: 0.3%Singapore Airlines: 0.1%Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Global Air Travel Logjam Stumps Airlines, Disrupts Countless Summer Travel Plans By Janice Hisle, of Epoch Times Summertime is supposed to be joyful for travelers heading to vacation destinations—and airlines, too, because that’s when they typically rake in cash by the barrel. But 2022 has ushered in a summer of discontent for passengers and airlines worldwide, as airlines’ plans for rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic travel slump have hit one logjam after another. Across the globe, especially in Europe, there’s a new epidemic: canceled, overbooked, and delayed flights—and airport storage areas overflowing with lost and misdirected baggage. These once-rare annoyances of air travel are now more commonplace; travelers who took smooth operations for granted now expect snafus—a new mindset that has changed the way they plan trips. To prevent issues, savvy travelers are increasingly entrusting delivery services like FedEx or UPS to transport luggage to their destinations. Some are putting GPS-enabled devices into their luggage, such as Apple’s AirTag or the Tile tracker. And people traveling in groups are sprinkling a few pieces of clothing per person into each checked bag instead of risking having someone lose an entire vacation wardrobe. Airport information screens are showing “ON TIME” less frequently this summer. (Stock photo/Matthew Smith/Unsplash) For now, if an air traveler manages to have a leisurely getaway and hassle-free experience, they might feel like they’ve won the lottery. Chances for bad experiences have increased, a trend likely to continue as the summer progresses, says Jay Ratliff, an aviation expert with more than three decades of experience. “Travel used to be something we enjoyed. But it’s turned into something we endure,” he said. One day last week, Ratliff’s email was brimming with more than 800 new messages, many of them from fed-up airline customers turning to him for help—or to vent. “I’ve never seen it this bad, industry-wide,” said Ratliff. “There are a lot of things contributing to this mess that we’re in, but it comes down to the airlines trying to operate too many flights, and they simply didn’t have enough employees to pull it off,” Ratliff said, noting the situation is “10 times worse in Europe.” Ratliff said that the percentage of flight delays serves as a barometer for how bad the problems are. During average years, he would see single-digit percentages of delayed flights for many airlines across the globe. But one day last week, 54 percent of British Airways flights were behind schedule, for example. He rattles off other recent jaw-dropping statistics at major hubs: In Brussels, Belgium, up to 72 percent of flights were late, and in Frankfurt, Germany, 68 percent of flights were delayed. In many cases, flight delays cause missed connections. When those passengers seek rebooking, the airlines often cannot find seats for them because flights are filled. That can leave passengers stranded at unintended destinations for hours, or even days. Ratliff said that several airports have been “begging airlines to stop selling tickets because terminals are filling up” with travelers waiting for rebooked flights. Adding to the mess: rental cars are scarce, another COVID-created problem. When pandemic was raging, few people were renting cars. That prompted rental companies to sell portions of their fleets. They also halted plans to buy replacements. Now that travelers are back, rental agencies are having problems securing new vehicles, which are selling at inflated prices. So when people try to get a rental car at the last minute, either because they failed to plan or were stranded by flight disruptions, they often rely on Uber or Lyft, or they may roam the airport for a prolonged period. Lufthansa was forced to cancel flights affecting about 130,000 passengers because of a worker strike set for July 27, 2022. (Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo, 2020/Reuters) This week, Europe’s woes worsened. German-based Lufthansa airlines announced it was canceling “almost all flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich.” The cancellations took effect July 27 because a union representing ground workers was waging a single-day walkout to demand higher pay. In a statement, the airline said the impact was “massive;” cancellations affected more than 130,000 passengers. Ratliff, who worked in management for Northwest Airlines from 1981-2001, explained how the COVID-19 pandemic set the stage for the current crisis. Airlines were forced to cut their workforces through layoffs and early retirements. Those measures were necessary to stay afloat when demand for air travel slowed to a trickle during the pandemic’s worst surges in 2020-21. “What business can survive with 95 percent of their customers no longer knocking on the door?” he asked. Airline executives reasoned that travel demand would eventually come roaring back—and when it did, they’d hire replacements for the former employees. But it wasn’t that simple. “They found they weren’t able to hire as fast as they thought they could,” Ratliff said. Background screenings and training for new workers can be time-consuming, too. As a result, many airlines and airports remain understaffed in many job categories, ranging from pilots to baggage handlers to ticketing agents and customer service reps. Suitcases are seen uncollected at Heathrow’s Terminal Three baggage reclaim, west of London, on July 8, 2022. (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images) Anticipating a staffing shortfall, airlines cut back flights during summer, when they would typically add flights. Those cutbacks surely made airline executives wince, Ratliff said. “They want as many of those ‘silver revenue tubes’ flying as they can during the summer,” he said, “because that’s the time when they make their money.” However, Ratliff said that even the curtailed flight schedules “assumed a perfect scenario” from May-June this year. During the Memorial Day weekend travel rush, it became clear that those ideal projections were unrealistic; systems disintegrated if bad weather rolled in or if a handful of employees called in sick, sometimes suffering from COVID-19. Such unpredictable events are capable of touching off a domino effect of airport problems. That was true even in the pre-pandemic era. But this summer, the airport house-of-cards is so precarious, a major thunderstorm could cause “a coast-to-coast cascading problem” that might persist for weeks, Ratliff said. Still, U.S. airlines are faring better than European ones. Airlines in Europe are having more trouble adjusting because demand for travel in those nations continued to lag while U.S. travel demand gradually picked up. During that ramp-up period, especially in the past year or so, U.S.-based airlines “learned some things,” Ratliff said; executives could see that they would need to curtail flights because they lacked the personnel to keep pace. Meanwhile, Europe faced a 77-percent drop in international traffic—or more—“and then, all of a sudden, here they come,” travelers flocking to Europe to fulfill long-delayed travel itineraries, Ratliff said. Europe’s air-travel landscape is “a crazy, crazy mess,” Ratliff said, blaming it on flight schedules that were even more “aggressive” than many American air carriers’ schedules. “This is a self-inflicted airline problem,” Ratliff said. “They rolled out this summer schedule thinking they could operate more flights than they were able to do. They miscalculated. And who’s paying for it? The poor passengers.” Travelers who expected to follow a nice, curved arc from their point of origin to their destination instead ended up bouncing along a zigzag path. In the worst single travel nightmare that Ratliff had heard of, a family started its journey with seven boarding passes—and ended up with 96 of them. KLM, a Dutch airline, recently suffered a baggage system malfunction. This 2020 file photo was taken in Amsterdam. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters) A synopsis of that family’s odyssey: After leaving Washington’s Dulles Airport, the group ended up missing flights, then being rebooked in multiple international hubs. “And, of course, their bags—did they keep up?” Ratliff asked. “Ha, not a chance!” Additional problems with flights and baggage seem to grab headlines every few days. Last week, a baggage-system malfunction at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol caused KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) in the Netherlands to take an unusual step. On July 20, the airline could not process luggage for most of the day, the airline said in a statement. As a result, “thousands of suitcases” were left behind while their owners traveled to other places. The next day, July 21, KLM refused to accept checked bags for passengers traveling between European cities. The goal was to “free up as much space as possible” on that day’s flights so that left-behind baggage could be transported. In the U.S., there is a shortage of baggage handlers partly because of uncompetitive wages, Ratliff said. In some places, those jobs pay about $16 an hour, he said, “and you could go work at McDonald’s in that same airport for $20 an hour—so why would you want to go out and work in all kinds of weather when you can be inside and make more money?” Many travelers are putting tracking devices on their luggage—but that doesn’t always help. Even if the tracker reveals the bag’s location, some passengers are reporting that airlines are telling them to travel to distant cities to retrieve their bags. Existing methods for reuniting lost bags with their rightful owners are being stretched to their limits by the current crisis—which affected Joanne Prater and her family in ways they never anticipated. Prater, who is Scottish and lives in the United States, says her 50-day quest to recover a checked bag has made her painfully aware of the inconvenience, stress, and emotional impact that people can experience over checked items that go missing. Longing to visit her family in Scotland, Prater scored a deal for half-price airfare: $500 per person, including checked bags. She, her husband, and their three sons drove from their Cincinnati-area home to Chicago. On June 6, they boarded an Aer Lingus flight and were bound for Dublin, Ireland, and Glasgow, Scotland. But when the family arrived at their destination, one bag belonging to her two youngest sons, ages 12 and 8, was missing. As a result, the boys had only “the clothes on their backs,” Prater said. Worse yet, the bag contained a varsity jacket that holds special meaning for the family, along with team jerseys that the boys wanted to show off to their relatives. “How do you explain to your children that their favorite clothes are missing?” Prater said. After it became clear that the boys’ bag wouldn’t materialize anytime soon, the family purchased several outfits for them, paying the U.S. equivalent of about $500. Prater repeatedly called the airline, sometimes stuck on hold for 45 minutes, only to have the call disconnected or to be in touch with a representative with whom she had communication difficulties. She finally resorted to returning to the Glasgow airport during her vacation, hoping that in-person contact would prove more fruitful than phone calls or electronic messages. At the airport, an Aer Lingus employee did seem sympathetic to her concerns. To Prater’s surprise, the employee escorted her into a corridor that was outside public view. There, a sight took Prater’s breath away: the hallway was lined with hundreds of pieces of luggage and other lost articles, such as strollers, car seats, and golf clubs. “People save all their lives for a dream vacation to come to my country, Scotland, where golf was invented, only to have their golf clubs lost? I mean, men collect clubs, and they’re expensive; you’re not bringing Fisher-Price clubs to Scotland to play golf,” Prater said. “It was just gut-wrenching to me. I’m standing there thinking about all of these poor families without their strollers, without their car seats, without their clothing.” Despite repeated attempts to find the missing suitcase,  the Praters returned home to the United States without it.  Prater continued her attempts to file various complaints with the airline, to no avail. Prater said she feels a kinship with other people who have formed groups on social media to vent their frustrations and to try to help each other locate their lost belongings. As of July 26, there was still no sign of the Praters’ bag, which was last seen in Dublin in early June, Prater said she was told. When The Epoch Times asked Aer Lingus for comment on Prater’s situation, the airline responded via email: “We understand the concern and frustrations felt by our customers whose baggage has been delayed and the impact this has had on their travel plans. Regrettably, our airline is being impacted by widespread disruption and resource challenges.” The airline also said it is taking steps to resolve the issues, including enlisting help from third-party companies to return items to their owners. Prater said she isn’t holding out much hope that the lost bag can be found, yet she still isn’t giving up because, “at this point, it’s about accountability.” It angers her that airlines seem to have offered flights and baggage services that they were ill-equipped to provide. “I’m probably never going to check a bag again because of this experience,” she said. Ratliff, the aviation expert, said he doesn’t see the airline crisis abating quickly. He predicts issues could persist into mid-2023. In his view, “If the airlines have packed airplanes now, treating passengers the way they’re treating them, there’s not really an incentive for them to change how they’re doing things.” Troubleshooting Tips for Travelers Jay Ratliff, an aviation expert, provides these tips for avoiding airline-related hassles: Make your reservations as far in advance as possible, which also protects you from fare increases. Catch the first flight in the morning. “There is no more important flight of the day for an airline than that first flight of the day,” he said because airlines know that if that flight goes out on time, it’s more likely that the rest of that day’s flights will follow suit. “And,” Ratliff said, “it’s going to be the cleanest airplane because no one has been flying in it yet.” Put a copy of your itinerary into your bag before you close it, increasing the chances that an airline employee will be able to return your bag to you if it is lost. Consider purchasing a tracking device such as Apple’s AirTag or a Tile. Take a photograph of your bag as you’re checking in to aid in locating it. Make sure you never put essential items such as medication or car keys into a checked bag. Allow extra time at the airport, reducing the chance you’ll miss your flight and face a nightmare rebooking it. “Let’s not play the game of ‘let’s see how close we can cut it,’” he said. If you have an important event such as a cruise ship departure or a wedding to attend at your destination, build a “buffer” into your travel plans. If your flight is delayed or canceled, use social media to contact airlines because they likely have more people working on social media than they do working the phones, Ratliff said. Be succinct in sharing what’s going on and what you need. If all else fails and you have a horrible experience with your flight or luggage, fill out an airline complaint form with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). “That completely changes the tone of the conversation,” Ratliff said. “The airlines can ignore us (individual passengers), but they can’t ignore the DOT.” Tyler Durden Thu, 07/28/2022 - 23:10.....»»

The airline vowed to deliver the bags to one of the ship's planned port stops, but they were instead sent to the couple's home in Ottawa, per the WSJ. Air Canada operates 55% of all flights from Toronto Pearson International Airport, according to FlightAware.NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty A cruise guest was embarrassed at the clothes she had to wear after her bags went missing, per the WSJ. Rosmarie Buxbaum traveled on an Air Canada flight and then boarded a cruise ship for 15 days. Her baggage was left off the flight and not delivered to a port stop, as the airline reportedly promised. A passenger, who took an Air Canada flight before boarding a cruise ship, said she was embarrassed at having to wear sweatpants during a 15-day Scandinavian cruise after her delayed baggage never arrived.Rosmarie Buxbaum, 66, along with her husband David Cartwright, flew from Toronto Pearson International airport to London Heathrow on June 24 to board a cruise bound for Norway and Iceland, where they intended to celebrate their wedding anniversary and her birthday, per The Wall Street Journal. However, the couple's bags, which contained suits and dresses to celebrate the occasion, were left off the flight, Buxbaum told the publication. After the airline promised to deliver them to the ship, the bags were instead sent to the couple's home in Ottawa, she added."I ended up wearing sweatpants for the trip of a lifetime," Buxbaum said. "It was a total embarrassment." Without their bags, the couple were forced to cancel formal dinner and dance reservations that they'd booked as part of celebrations, per The Wall Street Journal. It's just one story from a summer that continues to be defined by travel chaos, lost baggage, and long queues at airports as the aviation industry struggles to cope with resurgent travel demand after the pandemic exacerbated existing staff shortages. Although the problem has been global, a mountain of unclaimed luggage has appeared at Toronto Pearson International Airport, due to additional problems with its baggage system. Some passengers passing through the hub claim they've waited as long as a month for their bag to arrive. The hub is the worst for delays among the world's top 100 airports by number of flights, according to The Wall Street Journal. More than half — 53% — of flights departing the airport between June 1 and July 18 were delayed, the publication reported, citing data from FlightAware.  One ramp agent previously told Insider's Hannah Towey that travel chaos at the airport was the worst he'd seen in his six years at the hub. Air Canada operates 55% of all flights at the airport, per The Wall Street Journal. Officials from the airport told The Wall Street Journal that they have had less time to respond to demand because the travel demand only picked up after the federal government loosened vaccine and COVID-19 testing requirements. Passenger numbers didn't increase significantly until late May and June, the officials added.Air Canada and The Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which runs Toronto Pearson airport, are yet to respond to Insider's request for comment, which was made outside of normal business hours.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Flavia Acosta Fox was traveling to Dublin when she was forced to wait in Newark airport for almost a day after her flight was delayed. United warned of more delays and cancelations due to an air traffic controller shortage.Jeenah Moon/Getty Images A United passenger was stranded at Newark airport for almost 24 hours after a flight was canceled. Flavia Acosta Fox told Insider it was the "worst airport experience" of her life. Thousands of people have their flights canceled or been delayed in the summer travel chaos. As a seasoned traveler, Flavia Acosta Fox is used to dealing with cancelations and delays, but a recent journey with United Airways will forever be etched in her memory."This trip was the worst airport experience of my life and I know there were some laws disregarded and broken," she told Insider after being left stranded in Newark airport for almost 24 hours. Insider reviewed flight receipts and a screenshot of the airline's app showing the status of her flight. Almost all airlines are struggling to meet post-pandemic demand for air travel, resulting in thousands of flight cancelations, lost luggage, and even leaving some stranded in airports far away from home."Everything was fine at San José airport in Costa Rica. I even arrived on time in Newark. There we were stranded on the runway for 45 minutes due to a traffic jam, as the pilot called it," Acosta Fox said.After getting off the flight she ran to make her connection, but there was no information given for some time."Eventually, we got redirected from one gate to another – by signs only. There was no crew present, and once we reached the other gate, the board was saying 'Cape Town' – the flight hadn't even departed," she said. "Our plane was not in sight, we were waiting for the other one to depart and new info for our flight to Dublin to show up."After what felt like "another eternity", the departure time was pushed four times between 11:15 pm and 1:10 am. "Nobody to talk to in all this time – not one crew member, no info, nothing. I know they must by law display more information, but that did not happen."Flavia Acosta Fox was stranded for almost 24 hours at Newark.Flavia Acosta FoxThe US Department of Transportation requires airlines to tell passengers about a change in the status of a flight within 30 minutes of becoming aware of one on its website and telephone reservation system.After they finally boarded, at 1:10 am, Acosta Fox said she was very hungry. "Up this point there was no food or snacks or water or anything handed out to us. Most restaurants and food stand were of course closed by the time I arrived that night at the airport."Thirty mins after boarding, the crew said the plane had technical problems and told passengers to get off. "That is when we got abandoned," she said.Acosta Fox hoped she would be given a hotel room or at least food and be told to come back to the airport the next day. However, all she was told was that "there are no hotels or vouchers left," and that she had to wait until 6am. Her flight to Ireland finally departed the following evening. "I was up for over 24 hours at the time of receiving the news that there will be no hotel for me ... I was stranded for a total of 23 hours at the airport until I could finally depart for Dublin."Acosta Fox said she had not received a response from United and now has fears about her return journey with the same airline later this month.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

An Icelandair spokesperson told Icelandic broadcaster RUV the new system is designed to decrease flight delays and reduce passenger disruptions. Savvapanf Photo/Shutterstock European carrier Icelandair is flying its own baggage handlers to Amsterdam to help load and unload luggage. A company spokesperson told Iceland media outlet RUV that the new system is working well so far. The move comes after airlines and airports struggle to successfully track and deliver bags this summer. European carrier Icelandair has found a unique way to better manage customer luggage. Airports in Europe, like London's Heathrow Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, have been battling huge volumes of passengers this summer. High demand coupled with staffing shortages has caused major operational issues, particularly when it comes to handling luggage. Amsterdam has been one of the worst-hit airports, having been forced to impose a passenger cap to better manage the volume. Heathrow implemented the same policy on Tuesday. To better manage the problems in Amsterdam, Icelandair has started sending its own baggage handlers on flights to Amsterdam to help load and unload luggage, Icelandic public broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RUV) reported. Airline spokesperson Ásdís Ýr Pétursdóttir told RUV that the company took the initiative as a way to reduce delays caused by slow baggage transfers. "Since last Friday, we have added two bag handlers to our crew to Amsterdam to speed things up and keep planes on time," they said.According to RUV, Icelandair had bag handlers on all flights to Amsterdam on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and the system has worked so far. The program will be continued for the rest of the week but will be re-assessed after, Pétursdóttir said."We will have to see how it develops and whether we carry this on, and even maybe to other destinations," they told RUV. "As I say, we are trying to find ways to reduce the effects of these delays and minimize disruption to the journeys of our passengers."Icelandair did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.Throughout the summer, airlines have struggled to consistently track and deliver passenger baggage, with hundreds of customers saying their luggage arrived late, and, in some cases, not at all. One customer whose bag was lost for a week after returning home to Ireland from Australia bought a cheap flight so he could access a restricted area at Dublin Airport where lost luggage was being stored.Another passenger has been waiting nearly a month for a lost bag that has important medication in it. The luggage has traveled to Munich, Athens, and Venice, but the airline has continually failed to keep track of it.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

On Sunday, 70% of Air Canada flights were delayed — a higher percentage than any other airline that day, according to Flight Aware. A person sits in a hallway near Air Canada in Terminal One at Person International Airport in Mississauga on May 12, 2022.Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images An Air Canada passenger flying to Europe had his flights delayed 10 times on Saturday. On one of the flights, 25 passengers had to deboard because it was "too heavy" to take off, he said. The airline also lost his luggage, forcing him to spend over $4,500 on replacement items, he said. Even a senior manager at a global travel logistics company can't escape this summer's airport chaos: The man, who's based in the Western US, told Insider his 21-hour trip to Europe last weekend was the "worst experience flying" he's ever had — complete with nearly a dozen flight delays and a lost suitcase. "I travel a ton for work and I think I'm above average for forgiving airline trouble," he told Insider. Flight receipts and email notifications reviewed by Insider show Air Canada delayed the passenger's flights a total of 10 times during the three-legged journey and lost his baggage along the way.The passenger, who was traveling to a business conference, told Insider he has not received compensation for the flight and spent more than $4,500 on replacement items and clothes. He spoke on condition of anonymity because his employer — who purchased his ticket — does not allow its staff to talk to the media, but his identity is known to Insider, which also reviewed his travel documents. His final destination is being withheld to protect his identity.The trouble began in Denver, which reached a record-breaking 100 degrees that day. Extreme heat makes it harder for fully-loaded planes to take off, especially at higher altitudes. After passengers and their luggage were fully boarded onto the plane, he said crew members "begged" 25 people to switch their flights at the last minute because the aircraft was too heavy to take off, even with all the carry-on luggage removed.The flight's crew members were "super nice," but worked for a third-party service, with one saying she was "quitting after today," the passenger told Insider. Eventually, a large group traveling on vacation together volunteered to switch their flights without any compensation, he said. Flight notifications viewed by Insider show the flight from Denver landed in Montréal, Canada, at around 10 p.m., where the passenger said there was no ground crew to taxi the plane to the gate. This caused passengers to wait an additional "two hours sitting on the tarmac," he told Insider. At the gate, the passenger said he was told there were no more flights to his final destination, meaning he would have to spend the night at a hotel in Canada.Airline staff informed him he would not be compensated for the flight or hotel "because it was a weather-related issue in Denver that caused the delay," despite the two hours the plane spent on the tarmac, he told Insider. Fortunately, a 10 p.m. flight to Europe had also been severely delayed due to "pilot-scheduling issues," he said, allowing him to catch that flight. Once he arrived at his final destination on Sunday morning, he said he was notified that his bag was still in Montréal.After waiting for approximately an hour and a half for his suitcase to arrive, airport staff told him they were actually unsure of his bag's location, the passenger told Insider. Two days later, he says he still has no luggage.Why are so many flights being delayed or canceled this summer?The Fourth of July holiday was one of the busiest travel weekends in the US since 2000.Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesAbout 65% of Air Canada flights were delayed on Friday and Saturday, as Bloomberg reported Monday. On Sunday, 70%  were delayed — more than any other airline that day, according to Flight Aware.When contacted by Insider, Air Canada said it deals with customers "directly," and that airlines are "currently challenged due to issues with airports and third-party providers of such services as passenger screening, customs, and air navigation.""We are working hard with these partners and governments to resolve these issues as they are affecting the performance of airlines," the spokesperson added. The passenger's 21 hours of travel chaos represents nearly every issue plaguing the airline industry today: labor shortages, extreme weather, third-party provider snags, and missing luggage — plus the inescapable technical snafu. At the most basic level, the industry is facing an imbalance in its supply (of workers) and consumer's demand (for travel). This post-pandemic mismatch has led to a summer riddled with flight disruptions, resulting in both frustrated passengers and burnt-out airline workers. Are you an airline employee or passenger dealing with air travel disruptions? Email these reporters from a non-work address at htowey@insider.com or stabahriti@insider.comRead the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Brian Driver told The Wall Street Journal it was "by far the worst airline call center experience I've ever had." US carriers collectively canceled at least 35,000 flights during the weekend of Brian Driver's call-center trouble.DANIEL SLIM / Contributor / Getty Images An American Airlines passenger spent nearly four hours trying to rebook his seats over the phone. He eventually gave up and drove 45 minutes to the ticket counter at Denver airport, per The WSJ.  It's a microcosm of the travel frustration faced by passengers this summer. An American Airlines passenger who spent nearly four hours on hold with the airline's customer-service center grew so frustrated he drove 45 minutes to the airport to rebook his seats at the ticket counter.Brain Driver, a radio station manager, needed to rebook his flight home after a business trip to Denver ended early, The Wall Street Journal reported. He said he initially tried to switch his flight using the airline's mobile service and website but was unable to do so.He then called the airline's customer service center and was given a callback time of eight hours, according to The Journal. Eventually, he spoke to an agent via the airline's chat platform — but experienced further difficulty choosing his seats, according to the publication.Driver tried calling the airline again the next day but was told to try later because the lines were busy, The Journal said. When he tried again the following morning he spent three hours and 45 minutes on hold, eventually growing so frustrated that he drove 45 minutes to rebook his seats at the ticket counter at Denver International Airport. "This has been by far the worst airline call center experience I've ever had," Driver told The Journal. A spokesperson for American Airlines told Insider that weather and air-traffic-control issues were behind long mid-June hold times, the highest the airline had seen over the past several weeks. "These challenges, combined with an anomaly in this customer's booking, resulted in an experience that did not meet what we aim to deliver for our customers," the airline said."Our hold times for all customers are now significantly lower than they were in the middle of the month. To support high summer demand, we welcomed hundreds of additional reservations agents this spring in anticipation of the season," the spokesperson said.Driver could not immediately be reached for comment.Driver's predicament is a microcosm of the travel frustration faced by passengers this summer amid a spate of flight delays and cancellations, as airlines struggle to cope with rising travel demand and passenger numbers. In what is increasingly becoming the norm, US carriers collectively canceled at least 35,000 flights between the day of Driver's first call on June 16 and the end of the Juneteenth long weekend. There's no singular issue, but ongoing staff shortages across the industry, exacerbated by mass layoffs during the pandemic, have left the aviation industry with little slack to cope with disruptions caused by poor weather, technical glitches that arise, or high passenger demand. The result has been long lines at airports as airlines readjust their flight schedules to minimize disruption. On Tuesday, Delta announced that it will let passengers reschedule tickets booked on flights between July 1 and July 4 for free. The airline hopes to give passengers more flexibility to plan around busy travel times. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Brian Driver told The Wall Street Journal it was "by far the worst airline call center experience I've ever had." US carriers collectively canceled at least 35,000 flights during the weekend of Brian Driver's call center trouble.DANIEL SLIM / Contributor / Getty Images An American Airlines passenger spent nearly four hours trying to rebook his seats over the phone. He eventually gave up and drove 45 minutes to the ticket counter Denver airport, per The WSJ.  It's a microcosm of the travel frustration faced by passengers this summer. An American Airlines passenger who spent nearly four hours on hold with the airline's customer service center grew so frustrated he drove 45 minutes to the airport to rebook his seats at the ticket counter.Brain Driver, a radio station manager, needed to rebook his flight home after a business trip to Denver ended early, The Wall Street Journal reported. He said he initially tried to switch his flight using the airline's mobile service and website but was unable to do so.He then called the airline's customer service center and was given a callback time of eight hours, per The Journal. Eventually, he spoke to an agent via the airline's chat platform — but nonetheless experienced further difficulty choosing his seats, according to the publication.Driver tried calling the airline again the next day but was told to try later because the lines were busy, per The Journal. When he tried again the following morning he spent three hours and 45 minutes on hold, eventually growing so frustrated that he drove 45 minutes to rebook his seats at the ticket counter at Denver International Airport. "This has been by far the worst airline call center experience I've ever had," Driver told The Journal. A spokesperson for American Airlines told The Journal that weather and air traffic control issues were behind long mid-June hold times, the highest it had seen over the past several weeks. "These challenges, combined with an anomaly in this customer's booking, resulted in an experience that did not meet what we aim to deliver for our customers," the airline said in a statement to the newspaper. The spokesperson said hold times were currently "significantly lower" compared with the middle of the month.American Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Driver could not immediately be reached for comment.Driver's predicament is a microcosm of the travel frustration faced by passengers this summer amid a spate of flight delays and cancellations, as airlines struggle to cope with rising travel demand and passenger numbers. In what is increasingly becoming the norm, US carriers collectively canceled at least 35,000 flights between the day of Driver's first call on June 16 and the end of the Juneteenth long weekend. There's no singular issue, but ongoing staff shortages across the industry, exacerbated by mass layoffs during the pandemic, have left the aviation system with little slack to cope with disruptions caused by poor weather, technical glitches that arise, or high passenger demand. The result has been long lines at airports as airlines readjust their flight schedules to minimize disruption. On Tuesday, Delta announced that it will let passengers reschedule tickets booked on flights between 1-4 July for free. The airline hopes to give passengers more flexibility to plan around busy travel times. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Brian Driver said being kept on hold for such a long time was the worst airline call center experience he'd ever experienced, per the Journal. US carriers collectively cancelled at least 35,000 flights during the weekend of Driver's call.DANIEL SLIM / Contributor / Getty Images An American Airlines passenger spent four hours trying to book his seats over the phone. He instead ended up driving 45 minutes to the airport to choose his seats, per the Wall Street Journal.  It's a microcosm of the travel frustration faced by passengers this summer. An American Airlines passenger grew so frustrated with the carrier's customer service line that he drove 45 minutes to choose his seats in person, after spending nearly four hours on hold. Brain Driver needed to rebook his flight home after a business trip to Denver ended early, The Wall Street Journal reported. He initially tried to change his flight using the airline's mobile and website but was unable to. He then called the airline's customer service line but was given a callback time of eight hours, per the Journal. Eventually, he was able to speak to a "helpful agent" via the airline's chat platform, according to the publication.Driver called the airline again the following day after having difficulty choosing his seats on the new flight but was told to try again as the lines were busy, per the Journal. When he tried again the next morning he spent three hours and 45 minutes on hold, eventually growing so frustrated that he drove 45 minutes to book the seats over the ticket counter at Denver International airport. "This has been by far the worst airline call center experience I've ever had," Driver told the journal. Driver's predicament is a microcosm of the travel frustration faced by passengers this summer amid a spate of flight delays and cancellations as airlines struggle to cope with rising travel demand and passenger numbers. In what is increasingly becoming the norm, US carriers collectively cancelled at least 35,000 flights between the day of Driver's first call on June 16 and the end of the Juneteenth long weekend. There's no singular issue, but ongoing staff shortages across the industry, exacerbated by mass layoffs during the pandemic, have left the aviation system with little slack to cope with disruptions caused by poor weather, technical glitches that arise, or high passenger demand. The result has been long queues at airports as airlines readjust their flight schedules to minimize the disruption. Airlines had promised to address the staffing shortages within customer service centers that left customers facing hold times of up to 12 hours in some cases as travel peaked last summer, per the Wall Street Journal. A spokesperson for American Airlines told the Journal that weather and air traffic control issues were behind the long mid-June hold times, the highest it has seen over the past several weeks. "These challenges, combined with an anomaly in this customer's booking, resulted in an experience that did not meet what we aim to deliver for our customers," they said, in a statement to the newspaper. The spokesperson said hold times are currently "significantly lower" compared with the middle of the month. American Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further comment. Driver could not immediately be reached for further comment. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Transportation Secretary Warns: "There Are Going To Be Challenges" With Flights On Fourth Of July Weekend Since Memorial Day weekend, airlines have canceled 20,000 flights and delayed more than 173,000, resulting in one of the worst travel periods for Americans. In a matter of days, travel demand is set to soar as 3.55 million people are expected to fly over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Concerns are already mounting as persistent pilot and crew shortages and understaffing among the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are expected to create another perfect storm of flight disruptions.  On Tuesday evening, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke with NBC Nightly News' Lester Holt about the travel mess and offered no reassurance about an immediate resolution to chronic flight delays and cancellations plaguing airports across the country.  Holt asked Buttigieg, "Is the July 4 holiday a recipe for disaster given the issues with the system right now?" Buttigieg answered, "There are going to be challenges, but we're watching it closely and we're talking to the airlines every day about their responsibility to make sure that they can accommodate any issues that weather or other curveballs might throw at them. A lot of people, including me, are expecting to get to loved ones over this holiday weekend, and we need a system that is resilient enough to get them there, plus good customer service when an issue does come up." Holt responded, "The airlines got a lot of money, over $50 billion. A lot of that, the idea was that you wouldn't have to lay off people, that you could keep people employed." Buttigieg said, "So, the point of this taxpayer funding was to keep people in their jobs. And one of the best things about the Rescue Plan, for example, was the news that airline employees were told to tear up their furlough notices when it came through. But we also saw that a lot of people, including pilots, were nudged into early retirement by the airlines. That certainly is something that reduced the labor force that, right now, we're really counting on. Often, we're hearing the lack of a pilot ready to go cited as an issue or a problem that's contributing to a delay or a cancellation." Buttigieg added that some of these issues are "long term"...  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke with @LesterHoltNBC in an exclusive interview about challenges in the travel industry. Secretary Buttigieg said that while some of these issues are "long term", others, such as a realistic schedule, should be delivered right away. pic.twitter.com/6l04XR0nBS — NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) June 29, 2022 United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby recently pointed out the industry is short 12,000 pilots, and "there's no quick fix."  United, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, and Spirit Airlines have all reduced flights this summer to alleviate congestion.  Last Friday, airline industry group Airlines for America, which represents the country's largest airlines (American Airlines, Delta, United, Southwest, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines, as well as shippers FedEx and UPS), blamed the FAA's own understaffing is "crippling" East Coast air traffic. While the weather could certainly be an issue, the crux of the problem is a pilot shortage and possibly understaffed FAA air traffic controllers.  Buttigieg recently warned airlines that they faced federal government action—presumably including fines—over mounting flight cancellations and delays.  Tyler Durden Wed, 06/29/2022 - 15:45.....»»

Stockman: The Spasmodic Chaos Of The Post-Lockdown US Economy Authored by David Stockman via The Brownstone Institute, The Biden Administration’s utterly ridiculous plan to enact a three-month holiday from the 18.4 cents per gallon Federal gas tax should be a wake-up call with respect to a far broader and more destructive threat. To wit, the US economy has lost its market-based bearings and is now behaving like a spasmodic heap of discord, dislocation and caprice owing to repeated batterings via out-of-this-world government regulatory, fiscal and tax interventions. In combination, the Green Energy attacks, the Virus Patrol’s lockdowns and scare-mongering, the Fed’s insane money-pumping and Washington’s unprecedented $6 trillion fiscal bacchanalia of the last two years have deeply impaired normal economic function. Accordingly, the business sector is flying blind: It can’t forecast what’s coming down the pike in the normal manner based on tried and true rules of cause and effect. In many cases, the normal market signals have gone kerflooey as exemplified by the recent big box retailers’ warnings that they are loaded with the wrong inventory and will be taking painful discounts to clear the decks. Yet it is no wonder that they stocked up on apparel and durables, among others, after a period in which the Virus Patrol shutdown the normal social congregation venues such as movies, restaurants, bars, gyms, air travel and the like. And than Washington added fuel to the fire by pilling on trillions of spending power derived from unemployment benefits that reached to a $55,000 annual rate in some cases and the repeated stimmie checks that for larger families added up to $10,000 to $20,000. Employed workers didn’t need the multiple $2,000 stimmie checks because in its (dubious) “wisdom” the Virus Patrol forced them to save on social congregation based spending. Likewise, temporarily laid-off workers didn’t need the $600 per week Federal UI topper. For the most part they had access to regular UI benefits, and also suffered forced “savings” via the shutdown of restaurants, bars, movies etc. Even the so-called “uncovered” employees not eligible for regular state benefits didn’t need $600 per week of UI bennies. The targeted temporary coverages could have paid 65% of their prior wage for well less than $300 per week on average. So what happened is that the double whammy of forced services savings and the massive flow of free stuff from Washington created a tsunami of demand that sucked the inventory system and supply chains dry. For instance, here is the Y/Y change in inflation-adjusted PCE for apparel and footwear. The steady-state condition of the US economy for that sector oscillated right near the flat-line during 2012-2019. Then the Washington policy hurricanes hit. During the original Q2 2020 lockdowns, real spending  for apparel and footwear plunged by -27.0%, as Dr. Fauci and the Scarf Lady sent half of the American public scurrying for the fetal position in their bedrooms and man-caves. But it didn’t take the American public long to get the joke. They soon re-cycled their restaurant spending etc. and topped it up with a tsunami of Washington’s free stuff during the 18 months ending in September 2021. That literally turned spending patterns upside down. That is to say, the Amazon delivery boxes were declared “safe” once the CDC figured out that the virus didn’t pass on surfaces—so the public went nuts ordering apparel and footwear. By Q2 2021, especially after Biden idiotic $1.9 trillion American Rescue Act in March 2021, the Y/Y change had violently reversed to +57.1%. That’s whip-saw with malice aforethought. Left to their own devices consumers would never yo-yo their budgets in this manner, meaning, in turn, that retail, wholesale and manufacturing suppliers had no possible way to rationally cope with the Washington-fueled supply-chain upheavals. As is also evident from the chart, the inflation-adjusted Y/Y change in May plunged nearly back to normal—just +3.4%. Yet it will take years for supply chains and inventory levels and mixes to recover from the economic chaos generated by Washington. Y/Y Inflation-Adjusted Change PCE for Apparel And Footwear, 2012-2022 The same story holds for durable goods—with the yo-yo amplitude even more extreme. As shown by the chart below, the trend level of growth in real PCE for durables was 3.3% per annum during the 14 year period between the pre-crisis peak in October 2007 and the pre-Covid top in February 2020.  Other than during the 2008-2009 recessionary contraction, the numbers followed a stable pattern that businesses could cope with. And then came the Washington ordered whipsaws. During April 2020 real PCE plunged by -17.5%from prior year, only to violently erupt by +70.5% Y/Y in April 2021. Those stimmies and forced “savings” again! But now that’s over and done. During May 2022 the Y/Y change was -9.1%. Again, it is no wonder that businesses have the wrong inventories and supply chains have been monkey-hammered from one end of the planet to the other. Y/Y Change In Real PCE Durables, 2007-2022 In fact, that points to another dimension of the bull-whip story. To wit, the one time conversion of manufacturing to the global supply chain had a hidden vulnerability—-ultra JIT (Just-In-Time). That is to say, when shipping distances for goods went from 800 miles within the US to 16,000 miles (from factories in Shanghai to terminals in Chicago (or 68 days at sea), a prudent system would have built-in large amounts of redundant inventory to safeguard against the the sweeping disruptions of the past two years. But the carry-cost of in-depth inventory redundancy would have been extremely costly. That’s owing to working capital costs and the risk of stockpiling the wrong-mix of goods. That is, potential inventory costs and merchandise discounts and write-off would have eaten heavily into the labor arbitrage. But fueled by the Fed easy money and idiotic 2.00% inflation target, supply chains became ever more extended, brittle and vulnerable. That fact is now indisputable. As it happened, however, the push to ultra-JIT supply chains caused a massive one-time deflation of durable goods costs. In fact, the nearly 40% contraction of the PCE deflator for durables between 1995, when the China export factories first cranked-up, and the pre-Covid level of early 2020 is one of the great aberrations of economic history. We seriously doubt that the black line below actually happened, save for the BLS endless fiddling with hedonics and other adjustments to the CPI. Yes, toys, for instance plunged by upwards of 60% during this 25-year period, but then again did they make a whopping big negative hedonics adjustment to accounts for the China junk toy standard? Still, the deflationary free ride is over. Already, the durables deflator is up nearly 13% from the pre-Covid low and there is far, far more ground to recoup as global supply chains rework the busted JIT models that evolved prior to 2020. PCE Deflator for Durable Goods, 1995-2022 When it comes to Washington-induced whipsaws, however, there are few sectors that have been as battered as the air travel system. During April 2020, for instance, passenger boardings were down a staggering 96% from the corresponding pre-pandemic month, as in dead and gone. Moreover, this deep reduction pattern prevailed well into the spring of 2021. The airline shutdowns were not necessitated by public health considerations: Frequent cabin air exchanges probably made them safer than most indoor environments. But between the misbegotten guidelines of the CDC and the scare-mongering of the Virus Patrol, even as late as January 2022 loadings were still down 34% from pre-pandemic levels. The industry’s infrastructure got clobbered by these kinds of operating levels. Baggage handlers, flight attendants, pilots and every function in-between suffered huge disruptions in incomes and livelihoods—-even after Washington’s generous subsidies to the airlines and their employees. And then, insult was added to injury when pilots and other employees were threatened with termination owing to unwillingness to take the jab. The result was an industry to turmoil and sometimes even ruin. Then the traffic came flooding back. From 70% of pre-pandemic levels in mid-winter 2021-2022, boardings have subsequently rebounded to 90% in recent months. Alas, the air travel system is severely disorganized with labor shortages of every kind imaginable, leading to schedule gaps and cancellations like rarely before. And now the whipsaw is in the inflationary direction as desperate passengers pay previously unheard of prices to get scarce seats during the summer travel months. As CBS News recently reported, Airlines cancelled nearly 1,200 U.S. flights on Sunday and Monday, leaving passengers stranded and luggage piled up at airports across the the country. Thousands more trips were scrapped across the globe as the summer travel season kicks off. Now for the bad news: Airline analysts say delays and cancellations are likely to persist, and could even get worse. “We may not have seen the worst of this,” Kit Darby, founder of Kit Darby Aviation Consulting, told CBS MoneyWatch. Right now, when you have normal things like airplane maintenance or weather, delays are much more severely felt. There are no reserved extra pilots, planes, flight attendants — and the chain is only good as the weakest link,” Darby said. Many of these problems stem from airlines slashing staff early on in the pandemic, when air travel plummeted. Demand has since roared back faster than airlines have been able to ramp up hiring. “The biggest issue is they don’t have the capacity. They have not been able to bring back full capacity in terms of pilots, TSA checkpoints, vendors at the airport, baggage handlers, ground staff or flight attendants,” New York Times travel editor Amy Virshup told CBS News.  Right. But what is way up now is ticket prices. After plunging by -28% in May 2020 under Fauci’s benighted orders, May prices soared by +38% on a year-over-year basis. Again, what we have is an economy careening lower and then higher owing to massive and unnecessary government interventions. And in the case of energy, the mayhem is even more severe. For want of doubt, however, here is the inflation-adjusted level of airline personal consumption expenditures in recent years. In 2020, the proverbial trap-door literally opened up under the industry. Real output fell by $62.3 billion or 52%, then rebounded by 63% the following year. Real PCE for Air Transportation, 2002-2021 That’s surely some kind of destructive economic yo-yo. And it was all fueled by the Washington politicians and apparatchiks who have no clue that America’s grand $24 trillion economy is not some kind of glorified game of bumper cars. *  *  * This article is reprinted from David Stockman’s ContraCorner, which offers such analysis daily to subscribers. Pound-for-pound, Stockman’s daily analysis is the most comprehensive, salient, insightful, and data-rich of anything available today. Tyler Durden Thu, 06/23/2022 - 13:10.....»»