Now that the summer travel season is over, let the finger-pointing begin.
Earlier this week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the government’s air-traffic system was the number-one cause of summer flight delays.
Later the same day, the Federal Aviation Administration pushed back. It issued a statement that included a chart showing U.S. airlines were responsible for more than twice as many minutes of delay as the agency through May of this year.
“Airlines should focus on restoring customers’ faith by being transparent about the cause of interruptions and by delivering what they promise,” the agency scolded.
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So who’s to blame for the epic delays? We're talking about 2 percent of flights canceled and close to 20 percent delayed during the summer months. (I'm kind of surprised they aren't blaming us for the whole thing.)
What needs to change now to avoid more disruptions during the holidays?
Stick around, because this weekend we'll be talking about the FAA more. It turns out the agency was in court this week — and the outcome could affect you.
The comments are open.
Airlines need to accept responsibility and accountability for the travel chaos since the world reopened, not just this past summer. They took billions of government $$, and by this I mean taxpayer $$, and still scuttled their work forces by offering early retirement to so many and they made no plans for the skys to reopen to flying, none, zip, zilch.
Airlines selling tickets to unstaffed or understaffed flights, only then to cancel with no reasonable alternatives, should be forbidden. After having furloughed employees, letting many go through early retirement offers, and making no attempt to recruit more, the airlines left themselves open to this disaster.