Halloween hassles: American Airlines cancels 100 flights out of Charlotte airport
Thousands of travelers who’d hoped to come to or leave Charlotte on Sunday had their Halloween plans disrupted as American Airlines continued a weekend-long run of large-scale flight cancellations throughout the U.S.
A spokesperson for American told The Observer that the airline canceled 100 flights that were scheduled to leave Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Sunday, following 79 such cancellations on Saturday and 47 on Friday.
The 100 canceled flights Sunday represented 18% of the 555 originally on the board.
Counting incoming flights, 212 American Airlines flights were affected at Charlotte Douglas on Sunday, based on flight information available on the airport’s website, as of 10:30 a.m. In total, the Charlotte airport was looking at 213 cancellations on Sunday, with a single early-morning Southwest Airlines flight the only other flight listed as canceled online.
Earlier this weekend, American Airlines said in a statement that nationwide disruptions were caused by a combination of high winds in north Texas on Thursday, when many flights into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport were canceled, and ongoing staffing shortages.
CNN reported Sunday morning that American told the network it had canceled 634 flights on Sunday, equal to more than 12% of its operations for the day, and since Friday had eliminated more than 1,500 flights.
On Saturday, American Airlines shared the following letter, which originally was disseminated to employees:
“This week saw two days of severe winds in DFW, with gusts of up to 50 mph on Thursday, creating crosswind limitations that sharply reduced arrival capacity by more than half. This weather drove a large number of cancellations at DFW, as we could only use two runways instead of the usual five that handle our operation.
“With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences. To make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews, we have adjusted our operation for the last few days this month by proactively canceling some flights. We are taking this measure to minimize any inconvenience as much as possible. Most of the customers impacted by these changes are being rebooked the same day, and we apologize for having to make these changes.
“Our team members are continuing to take great care of our customers and we anticipate getting through this brief irregular ops period quickly with the start of new month.”
Not surprisingly, the cancellations have been a tough pill for travelers to swallow:
This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Halloween hassles: American Airlines cancels 100 flights out of Charlotte airport."
