Memorial Day flight cancellations stack up

(NewsNation) — Thousands of people spent the Memorial Day weekend scrambling to rebook their flights or find another way to get to their destinations. Monday isn’t much better. 

As of 3:30 p.m. EDT Monday, there have been 1,482 flight cancellations and 10,501 delays, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Data shows 394 of those cancellations and 1,780 delays were domestic flights, or had an arrival or departure from a U.S. airports.

“It’s been very frustrating to have to go find another hotel for a night, buy new plane tickets,” a traveler told NewsNation. “We spent $200 on an Uber all the way here. We’ve been spending a lot of money.”

This weekend is the official kickoff to summer travel, and AAA expected nearly 3 million Americans to travel by air.

TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said in a tweet Monday morning that TSA officers screened 2,096,466 individuals at airport security checkpoints on Sunday.

On Sunday, 1,640 flights were canceled and 16,879 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware. That followed more than 2,300 cancellations Friday and another 1,500 on Saturday. More than 540 of Sunday’s cancellations involved aircrafts scheduled to fly to or from U.S. cities.

Delta has been hit the hardest, canceling more than 400 flights on Saturday and Sunday and nine percent of its overall operations.

Delta officials say they experienced heavy travel delays in the Northeast and Southeast due to bad weather, air traffic control and increased COVID-19 rates, forcing the company to cancel flights.

“More than anytime in our history, the various factors currently impacting our operation … are resulting in an operation that isn’t consistently up to the standards delta has set for the industry in recent years,” Delta Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband said in a statement.

If you plan to travel this summer, travel experts say these are the circumstances one should expect. Delta just announced it is cutting 100 flights daily through August. Jet Blue is also reducing its flight schedule by eight-to-ten percent, and Alaska Airlines will cut two percent of its flights due to a pilot shortage. 

Delta, United and Jet Blue preemptively canceled more than 230 flights today. Delta said it will be giving vouchers to anyone affected by bad weather in the Southeast region.

This story is developing. Refresh for updates.