Nearly 6,000 Flights Were Canceled or Delayed Due to Winter Storm Frida
The US saw 2,600 flight cancellations as of Monday alone.
If you escaped the holiday season unscathed by those mass flight cancellations, your luck might be running out. In yet another logistical travel nightmare, 2,600 US trips were canceled on Monday, with 3,200 more delayed as of 1 pm EST, USA Today reports.
A severe winter storm dubbed Frida blew through the midwest this weekend and is now heading across the east coast—only worsening the current Omicron-related staffing problems that have already caused so many travel snafus as of late.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. Over the weekend, 5,400 flight cancellations rocked the US while travelers saw a whopping 17,000 delays, marking the country's worst two-day travel stretch over the entirety of the holidays.
"It was absolute mayhem," 28-year-old traveler Natasha Enos told the outlet after her short layover turned into an overnight stay at the Denver airport. "It was a lot of people in a very small space and not everybody was masking. There were a lot of exhausted kids and some families were so stressed out."
Per the Department of Transportation, travelers with canceled flights are eligible for a full refund rather than a travel credit with the airline.
"Airlines have an obligation to provide a refund to a ticketed passenger when the carrier cancels or significantly changes the passenger's flight, and the passenger chooses not to accept an alternative offered by the carrier," the DOT said in an Enforcement Notice issued in 2020.