SEATAC, Wash. — Flight delays are stacking up before the holiday weekend. Nationwide, thousands of flights were canceled because of bad weather.
At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, traffic was heavy and lines were long Wednesday morning as we heard from stressed-out travelers who are trying to rebook their flights.
On Tuesday night, the Federal Aviation Administration put temporary ground stops in place because of severe thunderstorms in the New York area.
As of 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, there were 38 delays and six cancellations at SEA, according to FlightAware. Five of the canceled flights were with United Airlines. Nationwide, United has 335 flights canceled.
United has been having a rough week, including a day where it had 26% of its flights canceled and another 41% delayed.
United’s CEO is blaming low staffing at air traffic control centers, which are run by the FAA.
In an internal memo obtained by CBS News, United CEO Scott Kirby says the FAA failed airlines and travelers.
We talked to passengers at SEA who were trying to get rebooked all morning.
“So, this morning I was supposed to take a trip out to Norfolk, Virginia to spend some time with my son before his trip to Africa. When I got here at around 4 a.m., I found out that all the flights had been canceled. I hadn’t received a confirmation in my email to let me know there was a cancellation, but luckily, the crowd of people let me know what was going on when I got here,” said a Tacoma man.
Meanwhile, some people have been waiting at the airport for hours. One family told us they arrived at SEA at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
There were also big lines at other airlines’ counters, such as Delta and Alaska airlines.