This week’s travel flight mare has spilled over to Friday, with more than 800 U.S. flights delayed today as the July 4 holiday weekend begins.
It’s been a chaotic week for travelers as the country canceled nearly 7,000 flights this week as passengers criticized TSA for a Wheel of Fortune meme about unruly passengers.
This, as TSA has advised Americans to “pack some patience” as they try to reach their vacation destinations.
“As we approach the July 4 holiday travel period, we expect record travel volumes, TSA is staffed and ready to address the increased volumes with technologies and resources for improved security effectiveness, efficiency and passenger experience at security checkpoints,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said Thursday.
“I encourage travelers to pack a bag that starts empty to make sure you don’t have any prohibited items, arrive early, have your ID ready, and pack some patience.”
NEW YORK: More than 800 U.S. flights were delayed today as the July 4 holiday weekend begins. People travel through JFK Airport Terminal 4 on the Friday before the July 4 holiday
CHICAGO: O’Hare (pictured) and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport saw the most disruptions before 9 a.m. Friday
As the travel craze continues, frustrated passengers criticized the FAA after the agency tweeted a Wheel of Fortune meme about unruly passengers
Chicago’s O’Hare and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport saw the most disruptions Friday morning.
O’Hare has recorded 19 canceled and 44 delayed flights, of which Newark canceled 19 and delayed 38.
However, Friday’s cancellations look better this week than the previous days.
Meanwhile, United remains the worst affected airline with 192 canceled flights, followed by easyJet with 45.
As the travel craze continues, the FAA received backlash after the agency shared a tweet that many thought was inappropriate.
“There’s nothing puzzling about bad behavior on a flight — it’s not flying and could cost you a lot of money or jail time,” the FAA tweeted alongside a clue that said, “what’s screwing up your flight?” with the answer being ‘unruly passengers’.
People weren’t happy with the timing given this week’s travel nightmare.
“Given the myriad current challenges in aviation, was it really the best use of your time to tweet Ryan Seacrest?” replied one Twitter user.
Another said, “What’s ruining your flight?” Unions and an ignorant transportation secretary to begin with…”
More than 2.8 million people are expected to pass through airport security checks on Friday, which would be a one-day record, according to TSA.
The chaos began over the weekend as storms began to engulf the Northeast and parts of the Midwest, leading to massive delays and cancellations to and from airports in the New York area.
More than 8,000 passengers were delayed across the US on Thursday, with Denver and Chicago airports seeing the worst of the chaos.
NEW YORK: Chaos began over the weekend as storms began to rage across the Northeast and parts of the Midwest
More than 2.8 million people are expected to pass through airport security checks on Friday, which would be a one-day record, according to TSA. JFK airport pictured
NEW YORK: United remains the most affected airline, with 192 canceled flights, followed by easyJet, with 45
NEW YORK: TSA has advised Americans to “pack some patience” as they try to reach their vacation destinations
A ‘misery map’ shows the severity of flight delays and cancellations across the country
United Airlines took the brunt of the disruptions, with about 19 percent of scheduled flights canceled and about 47 percent delayed.
The Chicago-based airline said its operations began to see improvement. Although cancellations on Thursday were fewer than the previous days of the week, United still canceled 15 percent of its flights, FlightAware data showed.
The massive debacle also comes about a week after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned of impending travel disruptions due to a July 1 5G service boost that U.S. wireless companies plan to implement.
In a late June interview with the Wall Street Journal, Buttigieg called the 5G boost a “real risk” for air travel in hopes of seamless experiences.
“This represents one of the biggest – probably the biggest – foreseeable problems affecting performance this summer,” he said.
US aircraft not modified to withstand interference from the new 5G wireless signals may not be allowed to land in low visibility conditions.
Most, but not all, U.S. planes have been upgraded to meet the new standards, and while most major airlines will meet the Saturday deadline, JetBlue and an already struggling United Airlines won’t quite be done with it by then. upgrade their fleet.
Videos and images on the internet have shown hordes of passengers queuing for hours to collect their luggage – some have camped out and many are at their wits’ end with airline customer service.