The tarmac at Newark International Airport on Monday.
Hurricane Sandy has forced airlines to cancel roughly 9,000 flights, stranding travelers and raising the prospect that air travel might not be back to normal until next week.
FlightAware, a data provider based in Houston, said that more than 6,800 flights were canceled on Monday. It said that 1,300 flights had been canceled on Sunday, and that many more were being dropped for Tuesday, when high winds and heavy rain are still expected to buffet the East Coast.
FlightAware said that Philadelphia International Airport led the way in cancellations on Monday, grounding over 1,200 flights. The three major airports in the New York City area each canceled around 1,000 flights on Monday, the data service said.
Kate Hanni, the director of FlyersRights.org, a passenger rights group, said that given high fuel costs, extra seats were hard to find on most airlines even before the storm.
“The airlines have cut back so much on staffing, and some are flying less, and I think it could take well over a week for them to reschedule all the passengers, ” she said. “We’ve got a huge problem.”
She said her group’s phone hotline was already flooded with calls from passengers who could not get through to the airlines, whose customer service numbers have been overwhelmed by the high volume of calls.
US Airways, which has substantial East Coast operations, said it canceled 1,641 flights on Monday, or nearly half the normal daily total for its entire system. It said it would shut down all flights to and from Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington on both Monday and Tuesday.
Delta and United said they would resume flights Tuesday around midday. American Airlines and American Eagle suspended flights at airports along the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions from 10 p.m. Sunday to about midday Wednesday.
Waiting it out at Newark International Airport.
American warned that the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy may force some additional delays and cancellations of scheduled flights beyond Wednesday.
Most airlines are allowing travelers to make changes with paying fees – and are granting refunds in some cases — for itineraries potentially impacted by the storm.
The best way to make flight changes is on airline Web sites. Airlines are also asking travelers not to go to airports for extended waits.
Given the storm’s huge expanse of rain and winds, some flights were canceled as far inland as Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
No comments:
Post a Comment