The flight disruptions come amid the busy spring break travel period and a broader rebound in air travel with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Thousands of airline passengers across the US ran into trouble at the airport this weekend when major carriers experienced massive disruptions to their flight schedules.
On Saturday, 6,049 flights traveling within, into, or out of the US were delayed, and 1,934 were canceled, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. An additional 3,013 US flights were delayed and 1,517 canceled as of Sunday afternoon. The disruptions come amid the busy spring break travel period, and as air travel rebounds in response to relaxed COVID-19 restrictions.
All told, more than 10,000 flights have been delayed or canceled this weekend. Many disruptions were due to inclement weather, including thunderstorms, in Florida, while others stemmed from technology issues.
The affected carriers Saturday included major US airlines like American, Southwest, United, and Delta.
Southwest Airlines bore the brunt of the disruptions. On Saturday, 44% of its flights were delayed and 14% canceled.
"We have all hands on deck to get delayed customers and their bags onto available flights and we're sharing additional guidance and wide flexibility to self-serve travel changes," a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Southwest issued an apology to customers on Saturday, saying the disruptions stemmed from "briefly pausing our service earlier this morning as we worked to resolve an intermittent technology issue, as well as ongoing weather challenges in Florida impacting multiple areas within our system."
The company told Insider it issued 400 proactive cancelations on Sunday, which were put in place the day prior because aircrafts and crews were out of their planned positions owing to Saturday's disruptions.
American Airlines saw 21% of its flight schedule delayed on Saturday and 12% canceled. An American Airlines spokesperson told Insider in a statement on Sunday that the company is "recovering from those disruptions."
"Yesterday's weather in and around Florida and resulting ATC [air traffic control] initiatives impacted our operations with most northbound and southbound routes through and to Florida affected," the spokesperson said.
At United Airlines, 26% of Saturday's flights were delayed and 2% canceled.
"Our operation yesterday was impacted by weather, especially in Florida. We are working to get customers to their destinations as safely and quickly as possible," a United Airlines spokesperson said in a statement.
Delta Airlines delayed 22% of its flights Saturday and canceled 8% of them. The company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Low-cost carriers like JetBlue, Frontier, and Spirit also experienced disruptions over the weekend.
