During the week, severe thunderstorms around Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) caused hundreds of cancellations and flight diversions. American Airlines was mainly impacted by the weather, with up to 10% of its schedule being canceled by midafternoon Thursday.
Severe weather impacting aviation
On Wednesday, severe thunderstorms in Texas caused at least 100 American Airlines flight diversions. This led to around 1,570 flight cancellations that extended into Thursday’s schedules. While American Airlines was expecting thunderstorms south of the airport on Wednesday afternoon, it was totally unexpected to have another wave. As reported by CNN, the carrier’s Chief Operating Officer David Seymour said,
“DFW airport had gone 67 days without seeing measurable rain, the second-longest streak on record – weather like this can wreak havoc on our operation. This was the worst storm we’ve seen at DFW this summer, and to make matters worse, there was no indication it was on its way.”
He added,
“Those storms then regenerated and created an entirely new, and unanticipated, line of storms north of the airport. This unexpected storm activity prevented all arrivals into DFW for a three-hour period.”
What about Friday and Saturday?
Dallas Fort Worth remained impacted on Friday and Saturday, although it may no longer be related to the thunderstorm issues earlier in the week. According to FlightAware, there were 380 delays on Friday at DFW and 45 canceled flights. American Airlines was the most impacted by delays and cancellations, having 242 delayed operations and 37 cancellations on Friday. Other airlines that suffered some impact on their schedules were Mesa Airlines, Envoy Air, Frontier, SkyWest, and United Airlines. Envoy Air, Mesa Airlines, and SkyWest operate flights for American Airlines and other major US carriers.
On Saturday, there has been 203 flight delays at Dallas Fort Worth and 15 cancellations, according to Flight Aware. American Airlines has had 13 canceled flights and 133 delays. Today there have been 2,907 delays within, into, or out of the United States and 172 cancellations.
Thunderstorms have grounded thousands of flights this past week. Photo: Getty Images
A chaotic summer
This summer has been very chaotic, with airlines canceling flights worldwide as they face not only bad weather but also staff shortages, new delivery delays, air traffic controller strikes, rising fuel prices, economic uncertainty, and more.
The delays are impacting all types of travelers, and it is not uncommon to see the social media accounts of US airlines filled with tweets from affected customers. Despite the current chaos, there’s one bright light for angry passengers, the possibility of a quicker refund.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) recently proposed a new rule in which travelers would be able to get their refund within seven days if they paid by credit card and their flight was delayed by three hours for domestic service or six hours for an international one. US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said,
“We’ll collaborate with airlines when they’re ready to take steps that are positive and proactive, whether that’s improvements in pay that are helping with hiring or flexibility in customer service,” Buttigieg told Fox News Sunday. “We’re also going to enforce passenger and consumer rights.”
Have you been impacted by delays or cancellations this summer? Let us know in the comments below.
