Hundreds of flight cancellations and delays kick off busy July Fourth weekend

Airlines canceled nearly 600 flights on Friday and more than 7,600 others arrived late, a tough start to a busy holiday weekend after a messy spring for air travel angered passengers and drew sharp criticism from Washington.

The delays included more than 970 American Airlines flights, nearly 30% of the carrier's mainline schedule for the day, and 756 Delta flights, about a quarter of the airline's schedule, according to a tally from FlightAware. Thunderstorms delayed many flights at some of the country's busiest hubs.

The disruptions eased to about 700 delayed flights by Saturday morning.

Already this year, the rate of flight cancellations and delays in June was higher than before the pandemic as a result of bad weather and staffing shortages. And airlines and federal officials have been scrambling to ease frustrations ahead of the busy holiday weekend.

This week, Delta took the unusual step of allowing travelers to change flights for free, without paying a difference in fare, if they can fly outside of the busy July 1-4 weekend, anytime through July 8. JetBlue Airways offered attendance bonuses for flight attendants this spring to ensure solid staffing. American Airlines regional airline Envoy is offering pilots triple pay to pick up extra trips through July.

And carriers including Delta, Spirit, JetBlue, Southwest and United recently trimmed their schedules to give themselves more wiggle room for when things go wrong.

"If you've encountered delays and cancellations recently, I apologize," Delta CEO Ed Bastian wrote in an email to members of its SkyMiles frequent flyer program on Thursday, regarding a recent spate of disruptions. "We've spent years establishing Delta as the industry leader in reliability, and though the majority of our flights continue to operate on time, this level of disruption and uncertainty is unacceptable."

The moves come as fares have soared and passenger counts near pre-pandemic levels. About 2.6 million people could depart U.S. airports each day of the weekend, according to estimates from the fare-tracker Hopper.

Travelers have largely been willing to pay the higher fares after being cooped up for two years in the pandemic. That's been a boon for carriers that are more than making up for a surge in fuel costs.

The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 2.49 million people on Friday, 306,000 more compared with the same week day of 2019, and the most since February 2020.

But flying is turning out to be a headache for many.

Nearly 176,000 flights arrived at least 15 minutes late between June 1 and June 29. That represents more than 23% of scheduled flights, according to flight tracker FlightAware. And more than 20,000 − nearly 3% − were canceled.

That's up from 20% of flights being delayed and 2% being canceled in the same period of 2019.

Consumer complaints are piling up. In April, the latest available data, the Transportation Department received 3,105 from travelers about U.S. airlines, up nearly 300% from April 2021, and at nearly double the rate during the same period last year.

Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration have sparred over who's to blame. Airlines chalk up the disruptions to bad weather, staffing shortages and staffing problems at the government's air traffic control.

With demand for flights to Florida rising among vacationers, airlines have complained in particular about congestion stemming from a key air traffic control center in the state that oversees planes in flight over a large swath of the Southeast.

To avoid getting caught in those delays, Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle told CNBC this week that the carrier is changing how it schedules crews, limiting flying through that airspace to twice on a single assignment. Flight delays tend to ripple through the rest of the network since crews arrive late for their next flights.

The FAA, for its part, has called out moves by airlines to let go of tens of thousands of workers through buyouts, despite getting $54 billion in taxpayer payroll aid during the pandemic as a part of a rescue package that prohibited layoffs.

Space launches and military exercises are other obstacles.

Political pressure on airlines is rising. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has repeatedly urged airlines to ensure they are ready for the summer travel season and to reduce disruptions after the recent spate of cancellations and delays, including one that affected a flight the secretary planned to take. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) also this week said airlines should be fined $55,000 per passenger for canceling flights they know they cannot staff.

On Thursday, the FAA's acting Administrator Billy Nolen and other top agency officials held a call with airline executives to discuss weekend planning, including the agency's use of overtime to staff its facilities, traffic and routing plans, according to a person familiar with the meeting. The call was in addition to regular planning meetings with airlines.