His own flight was canceled the day after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with airline executives to question them about widespread flight disruptions, and he ended up driving from Washington to New York.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Buttigieg said, "That is happening to a lot of people, and that is exactly why we are paying great attention here to what can be done and how to ensure that the airlines deliver."Buttigieg stated that he is pressuring airlines to stress-test their summer schedules to guarantee that they can operate all of their planned flights with the current workforce, as well as to hire more customer-service professionals. This could put pressure on airlines to reduce their summer schedules even further.
Buttigieg stated that if airlines fail to meet consumer protection requirements, his department may initiate enforcement action. But first, he wants to see if there are any major airline problems over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and throughout the summer, he said.
Fines may be imposed as a result of enforcement actions, however they are usually minor. Last year, Air Canada agreed to pay a $2 million fine for late reimbursements.
During a virtual meeting on Thursday, airline officials detailed the efforts they're taking to avoid a repeat of the Memorial Day weekend, which saw over 2,800 flights canceled. "Now we'll examine how those steps stack up," Buttigieg explained.
Travel is making a comeback. More than 2.4 million people walked through security checks at U.S. airports on Friday, falling just short of the pandemic-era high set on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year by around 12,500 people.
If airlines hadn't canceled 1,400 flights, many of them were due to thunderstorms hitting sections of the East Coast, the record would very certainly have been broken. According to the flight tracking service FlightAware, airlines had canceled almost 1,700 flights the day before.
When it comes to flying in the summer, the weather is always a factor, but airlines have also admitted to staffing shortages as travel rebounded faster than expected from pandemic lows. Airlines are rushing to replace pilots and other employees who were urged to leave once the pandemic struck.
While hiring and training a pilot to satisfy government safety standards can take months, the Transportation Department sees no reason why airlines shouldn't employ customer-service representatives to help passengers rebook if their flight is canceled right away.
The administration faces its own personnel issues.
Flight delays in Florida have been caused by staffing shortages at the Federal Aviation Administration, which is part of Buttigieg's department. The FAA has stated that it will expand employees in the area. The Transportation Security Administration, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, has set up a roving army of 1,000 screeners that may be assigned to airports with long checkpoint lineups.
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