“People Slept In Airports” – Spirit, American Cancel Hundreds of Flights Amid Staffing Shortage

Travel chaos is unfolding across US airports as American Airlines Group Inc. and Spirit Airlines Inc canceled hundreds of flights Tuesday, the third consecutive day of cancellations following “concerns that crew shortages are adding to problems that initially were caused by weather and technology issues,” according to Bloomberg.

FlightAware’s flight tracker website showed that at least 800 flights were canceled into or out of the US on Tuesday afternoon. American canceled 288 flights, or about 9% of its schedule today, 563 Monday flights, and 300 Sunday flights. Spirit canceled 347 flights, or about 50% of all flights Tuesday, after canceling 42% of its Monday flights due to weather and what eventually transpired into “operational challenges.”

We are experiencing operational challenges in some areas of our network. Before going to the airport, check your email and current flight status here: https://t.co/yuPJDPxeNu. The fastest way to receive assistance is to visit our webchat: https://t.co/QnlZcUCMtk. pic.twitter.com/E176h8KHjN

— Spirit Airlines (@SpiritAirlines) August 2, 2021

Internet search trends for “flight canceled” spiked on Monday and Tuesday. The most common search query was “spirit cancelled flights.” These searches were seen across dozens of states.

Frustrated travelers tweeted horror stories of their experiences over the last few days. Some said there were no re-booking options, stranding them at airports for multiple days. – READ MORE