American Airlines Cancels Over 1,800 Flights Over Weekend
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Thousands of fliers were left stranded after American Airlines canceled more than 1,800 flights nationwide over the weekend.
The airline blamed the 1,873 cancelations between Friday and Sunday on severe winds in the Dallas area, along with staffing shortages. Dallas-Fort Worth International serves as AA's travel hub.
According to CBS News, AA canceled 1,022 flights alone Sunday, which was a staggering 36% of the airline's total for the day.
"This week saw two days of severe winds in Dallas Fort-Worth, with gusts of up to 50 mph on Thursday, creating crosswind limitations that sharply reduced arrival capacity by more than half," AA COO David Seymour wrote in an internal letter to employees Saturday.
Los Angeles International Airport saw 28 canceled AA flights Sunday. Many of those travelers received hotel vouchers from the airline. As of early Monday morning, another seven AA flights were already canceled at LAX.
Nationwide, another 301 AA flights had been canceled Monday, according to FlightAware.
In his letter, Seymour wrote that AA expects about 1,800 flight attendants to start returning from pandemic leave Monday. The airline plans to hire another 4,000 new employees by the end of the year, including 600 flight attendants.
Last month, Southwest Airlines went through a similar issue slew of hundreds of flight cancelations over the course of a weekend. At the time, the airline cited poor weather and air traffic control issues for causing the problem.
