CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — After a busy Fathers Day weekend, traveers are dealing with unexpected challenges as CBS reports cancellations and delays.
“All of their afternoon flights are already full, the only availability I'm seeing here with American Airlines is a flight departing at 8 a.m,,” a travel agent confirmed on Tuesday.
Delays are happening right now through American Airlines not just in Texas but nationwide.
In a statement, American Airlines blamed the disruption in part on "unprecedented weather," saying "we never want to disappoint, and feel these scheduled adjustments will help minimize surprises at the airport."
This is in addition to shortage of labor the airlines says it's also experiencing as more people return to flying.
Mark Johnstone, owner of Sanborn's Travel Agency in Corpus Christi, says in most cases, people affected are owed a refund or a change in their route.
“There's really nothing for them to do other than accept the re-routing of their carrier to their destination,” he says.
Barbie Barta, a hiring expert and CEO of Business Centric Technology, explains this problem is not unexpected.
“The flight were very low and they weren’t selling a lot of tickets so they had to furlough folks,” she said.
Barta says most industries will more than likely continue to struggle with staffing which means sudden flight cancellations will continue.
“I've been in staffing for 25 years and I've never seen it quite like this,” she says.
American Airlines says the remainder of their furloughed pilots won't be fully ready to fly until the end of the month and Delta says its looking for 1300 customer service reps.
The TSA says its hired 4,000 workers of its targeted goal of 6,000 before the end of the summer.
