3,000 airline cancellations Monday, numbers show big headaches facing summer travelers
DALLAS (NewsNation Now) — As travel bounces back, people anxious to get moving are finding it hard to make it to their destination.
Airports across the country are experiencing long lines as airlines readjust to demand. Monday alone, the website Flight Aware calculated almost 7,000 delays and 3,000 cancellations.
Chaos is also clogging the highway, with AAA expecting more than 43 million Americans to drive to their July 4 destinations. However, a shortage of truck drivers is causing shortages and delays of fuel deliveries to gas stations across the U.S.
“Not only gasoline and the issue you got every product that you buy is an issue with the lack of truck drivers out there,” one driver told NewsNationNow.com.
The other concern for drivers is the price of gas. The average price is north of $3 per gallon, and some in California’s Bay Area are paying as much as $4.33.
By sea, cruises are setting sail once again post-pandemic. Carnival Cruise Line reported a 45% jump in bookings for the second quarter of the year and 2022 reservations are already filling up.
Rick Sweeney, the CEO of big data travel company 3Victors, tells NewsNation that the ripple effect of travel interruptions, especially when it comes to flying, is more detrimental then ever.
“Here’s the bad news about it – if you happen to miss your flight, they have to re accommodate, you know, several-hundred-thousand passengers,” he said. “It may be two, three days later before they can re accommodate you. You may blow your entire trip because you had your car rental done and you had your hotel done. So it can be very complicated right now.”
Travelers are also anxious to know when the federal travel mask mandate will expire. Sweeney speculates it won’t happen before the fall.