American Airlines cancels hundreds of flights due to weather and staff shortages: NPR

American Airlines passenger planes are preparing to depart near a terminal at Boston Logan International Airport in Boston in July. More than 1,000 flights were canceled this weekend due to the weather and lack of staff, the airline said.

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Steven Senne / AP

American Airlines passenger planes are preparing to depart near a terminal at Boston Logan International Airport in Boston in July. More than 1,000 flights were canceled this weekend due to the weather and lack of staff, the airline said.

Steven Senne / AP

American Airlines canceled nearly 1,600 flights over the Halloween weekend, including more than 700 on Sunday alone due to the weather and staff shortages, the company said.

The cancellations are just the latest in a month-long battle that the airlines have been in, as the journeys have resumed during the pandemic. While demand has been steadily rising, carriers continue to be hampered by staff cuts made more than a year and a half ago when COVID-19 began destroying the industry.

American Airlines says 343 were canceled on Friday, followed by another 548 cancellations on Saturday. Most of the canceled flights came to and from the airline’s main hub in Dallas / Fort Worth as well as in Charlotte, NC

In a letter to staff sent out Saturday, the company’s chief operating officer, David Seymour, said the company “proactively” canceled flights on Sunday due to strong winds in the Dallas / Fort Worth area and lack of crews.

“Most of the customers affected by these changes will be rebooked the same day,” Seymour wrote, “We apologize for having to make these changes.”

On the staff front, Seymour said 1,800 stewardesses will return from leave in November and that the company will add 600 new stewardesses by the end of the year.

Lack of weather and staff are the same reasons that American mentioned when they canceled nearly a thousand flights in July. And they are not the only airline that has faced this problem.

Earlier this month, Southwest Airlines mentioned problems with weather and air traffic control, the cancellation of a thousand flights over a weekend. Spirit Airline also canceled hundreds of flights in a single day in August.

The reaction to the canceled flights has been swift and not surprisingly critical on social media with images showing long lines for rebooking flights. A Bloomberg reporter whose flight was canceled Friday said waiting time talking to an agent over the phone was more than two hours.