Snow storms and pandemic ground flights, delay holiday's end

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Wintry upwind combined with the pandemic to frustrate aerial travelers whose instrumentality flights location from the holidays were canceled oregon delayed successful the archetypal days of the caller year.

More than 2,500 U.S. flights and much than 4,100 worldwide were grounded Sunday, according to tracking work FlightAware.

That followed Saturday's wide cancellations of much than 2,700 U.S. flights, and much than 4,700 worldwide.

“It was implicit mayhem,” said Natasha Enos, who spent a sleepless Saturday nighttime and Sunday greeting astatine Denver International Airport during what was expected to beryllium a abbreviated layover connected a cross-country travel from Washington to San Francisco.

Saturday's single-day U.S. toll of grounded flights was the highest since conscionable earlier Christmas, erstwhile airlines began blaming staffing shortages connected expanding COVID-19 infections among crews.

A wintertime tempest that deed the Midwest connected Saturday made Chicago the worst spot successful the state for travelers passim the weekend. About a 4th of each flights astatine O’Hare Airport were canceled Sunday.

Denver's airdrome besides faced important disruptions. Enos, who was flying connected Frontier Airlines, didn't larn that her connecting formation location to California was canceled until she had already landed successful Denver. Then it was a unreserved to find alternate flights and navigate done baggage claims packed with stranded and confused travelers, amid concerns astir the dispersed of the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19.

“It was a batch of radical successful a precise tiny abstraction and not everybody was masking,” said the 28-year-old fiscal analyst. “There were a batch of exhausted kids and immoderate families were truthful stressed out.”

In Michigan, the authorization that runs Detroit International Airport said crews were moving astir the timepiece to region snowfall and support the airfield. Atlanta's airdrome authorization advised travelers to get earlier than accustomed due to the fact that of precocious rider volume, imaginable upwind issues and pandemic-fueled staffing shortages that could lengthen the clip it takes to get done information gates.

And thousands of miles from the closest snowfall storms, Hawaiian Airlines said it had to cancel respective flights betwixt islands and crossed the Pacific owed to staffing shortages.

Southwest Airlines said it was moving to assistance customers affected by astir 400 flights canceled astir the state Sunday, astir 11% of its schedule. The Dallas-based hose anticipates adjacent much operational challenges to travel arsenic the tempest strategy pushes into the Eastern seaboard.

Delta Air Lines said Sunday it was issuing a question waiver for planned flights this week retired of mid-Atlantic airports successful Baltimore and Washington successful mentation for forecasted wintertime weather.

American Airlines said astir of Sunday's canceled flights had been canceled up of clip to debar last-minute disruptions astatine the airport.

SkyWest, a determination bearer that operates flights nether the names American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express, grounded astir 500 flights Sunday, astir 20% of its schedule, according to FlightAware.

Airlines person said they are taking steps to trim cancellations caused by workers affected by the omicron variant. United is offering to wage pilots triple oregon much of their accustomed wages for picking up unfastened flights done astir of January. Spirit Airlines reached a woody with the Association of Flight Attendants for treble wage for compartment crews done Tuesday, a national spokesperson said.

Airlines anticipation that other wage and reduced schedules get them done the vacation crush and into the bosom of January, erstwhile question request usually drops off. The seasonal diminution could beryllium sharper than mean this twelvemonth due to the fact that astir concern travelers are inactive grounded.

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AP Airlines Writer David Koenig contributed to this report.

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