Flight Delays, Cancellations Strand Thousands of Travelers

Staffing issues, quarantines after COVID testing, and early retirements have the airlines short-staffed and passengers short-tempered.

Meg Godlewski

Monday, December 27, 2021 at 02:56 PM ET

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A plane approaches Seattle Tacoma International Airport in Seatac, Washington. [Credit: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

Thousands of airline flights faced cancellations and delays over the holiday period due to a combination of factors.
Key reasons include staffing shortages caused by flight crews quarantining due to the Omicron variant and unreplaced senior staff who took early retirement in 2020.
Severe winter weather, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, significantly contributed to the travel disruptions.
Major airline hub cities like Denver, Chicago, and Seattle were most affected, despite overall passenger traffic returning to pre-pandemic levels.

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Thousands of travelers are having their holiday plans disrupted owing to a combination of reduced staffing blamed on the surge of the omicron variant of COVID-19 and wintery weather resulting in the cancellation and delay of thousands of airline flights across the country.

According to FlightAware, between December 24 and 10 a.m. PT on Monday, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, and United Airlines were forced to cancel or delay more than 2,466 flights.