CHICAGO.- Conditions this year have been mostly favorable for travelers flying on the eve and during Christmas, but passengers from Southwest Airlines They have suffered some complications again.
For millions of people who travel during the holidays, this year has been much better than last. Christmas morning put the finishing touch to a relatively quiet weekend.
As of midday Monday, only 138 flights to or from the United States had been canceled and 1,366 had been delayed, according to the airline information website FlightAware.
For the holidays, U.S. airlines prepared for huge waves of travelers by hiring thousands of pilots, flight attendants and other workers in an attempt to avoid the delays and cancellations that marred travel in 2022 and culminated in the debacle of Southwest Airlines, which left more than 2 million people stranded.
Even so, Southwest again experienced setbacks over the weekend that the airline intended to resolve on Monday. Only 2% of the airline’s flights were canceled on Monday, although 12% were delayed, for a total of 524 flights, according to FlightAware.
Southwest canceled 426 flights on Saturday and Sunday and delayed 2,689, according to data from FlightAware.
A Southwest spokesman attributed the problems to heavy fog in Chicago on Saturday and Sunday that prevented planes from landing, and said some additional cancellations may be needed on Monday before being fully recovered the next day.
Millions of Americans travel
The AAA automotive service club predicted that between Saturday and the New Year, 115 million people in the United States would travel at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from their home by plane or car. This is 2% more than last year.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened more than 2.6 million people on Thursday, according to agency records. Data for the weekend has not yet been published.
During Thanksgiving, a record number of people traveled through US airports, surpassing pre-COVID numbers in 2019, with a single-day record of 2.9 million people screened by TSA , on Sunday, November 26.
Weather conditions
Compared to last year’s holiday season, milder weather has helped keep air travel schedules on time.
But on the ground, road conditions were hazardous in some parts of the country on Christmas Day, thanks to accumulating snow and ice in the North Central region and the Great Plains. According to the National Weather Service. Most of Nebraska and South Dakota experienced blizzard conditions, while parts of eastern North and South Dakota saw ice storms.
According to transportation data provider INRIX, the busiest days on road traffic will be Saturday, December 23 and Thursday, December 28.
