Delta canceled more than 100 flights over the weekend after pandemic travel numbers soared and the airline was left without staff to handle the surge, Fox Business reports.
Why did Delta cancel 100 flights?
Delta canceled more than 100 flights over the weekend due to staff shortages. And the shortages happened on a weekend that saw a high number of travelers.
- In fact, the Transportation Security Administration said 1,543,474 people went through checkpoints on Sunday alone, which is almost 10 times as many people who traveled on the same date last year (122,029).
Delta could not handle the surge of travelers with such short staffs, so it canceled some flights. Per Associated Press, Delta opened up middle seats as well — almost one month ahead of when the company said it planned to do so.
Delta apologizes for canceled flights
“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience, and the majority have been rebooked for the same travel day,” Delta said in a statement, Fox Business reports.
- “Delta teams have been working through various factors, including staffing, large numbers of employee vaccinations and pilots returning to active status,” the airlines said, according to Fox Business.
Delta to open middle seats
Delta said it plans to end its middle seat policy — which blocks travelers from booking middle seats in order to keep travelers socially distanced — on May 1, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
- Delta joins other airlines — like American Airlines, Southwest, Jet Blue and Hawaiian airlines — which added middle seat policies before ending them to deal with the rise in air travel traffic.