MIAMI.- Thousands of passengers were stranded at airports over the July 4 weekend, after an unusual combination of factors ranging from bad weather, technology glitches to staff shortages due to massive disruptions to flightswhich continued through the July 4th holiday.
The bad weather, given by storms of rain and wind, affected from the central area of the country to the east coast.
At least 5,000 flights suffered delays in a few days that were forecast to record passenger numbers.
In Florida, where several airports offer connections to cities in the country, dozens of flights suffered delays.
“If we look at the numbers, the situation has improved,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“We had a few difficult days with bad weather, and that put enormous pressure on the aviation network,” he stressed.
Buttigieg commented during the program Face The NationFrom CBS, “No one can control the weather, but whatever is in the control of the airlines and whatever we can do on the FAA side, we will continue to do to make sure the flights are flowing as smoothly as possible.”
According to the report published by the American Automobile Association (AAA), about 2.8 million Floridians would travel 50 miles or more. That would mean 87,000 more than the record set in 2022.
Nationwide, some 50.7 million Americans are forecast to travel over the holiday weekend. That’s nearly 2.1 million more travelers than those booked for last year’s vacation and nearly 1.8 million more than the previous high, set in 2019.
If you plan to travel by air, contact the airline before going to the airport.
