FlightAware. That’s on top of more than 2,600 flights canceled Thursday. American Airlines canceled 8% of its flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, and United Airlines scrubbed 4% of its schedule both days.Airports with the most cancellations of late include Charlotte, North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty in the New York City area, and Reagan Washington National outside Washington, D.C.RELATED: Flight attendant bluntly shares travel tips: ‘We will not help you if you are mean’AAA predicts 47.9 million people will travel between Friday and Monday, and about 3.55 million of those will fly.
Delta Air Lines even took the unusual step this week of warning travelers that there could be problems over the holiday weekend.Planes sit parked at their gates at San Francisco International Airport on July 01, 2022 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Widespread delays and cancellations have been happening since before Memorial Day weekend.
Airlines have been caught short-staffed as they try to hire thousands of workers, including pilots, to replace those who they encouraged to quit when the pandemic caused air travel to plummet.Collectively, airlines have cut 15% of flights planned through the peak summer months, FOX Business reports.They're also using larger planes on average to carry more passengers with the same number of pilots, but it hasn’t been enough so far this summer.The airlines are increasingly trying to blame delays on understaffing at the Federal Aviation Administration, which manages the nation's airspace and hires air traffic controllers.Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has pushed back on those claims.RELATED: Delta pilots picket at Atlanta.