EDITORIAL: Airlines must blame themselves for delays, canceled flights and chaos
Jun. 29—If finger pointing solved problems, planes at Logan Airport would be landing and taking off on time.
Casting blame, however, doesn't solve problems, and nobody knows that better than the weary commuters in and around Massachusetts and across the country.
Air travelers have been met with waves of delays and outright cancellations up and down the East Coast, as airlines struggle with staffing and upkeep.
About 2,800 flights were canceled Memorial Day weekend. More than 3,000 flights were canceled and another 19,000 were delayed over the weekend of Father's Day and Juneteenth. Last weekend was only slightly better, with hundreds of U.S. flights canceled, including 800 on Sunday, a day that saw nearly 7,000 delays. That does little to instill confidence in the airlines' ability to keep pace during the upcoming July 4 holiday weekend.
Much of the problem is tied to staffing. Airlines that laid off pilots, mechanics and customer service representatives during the COVID-19 pandemic were slow to bring them back as restrictions eased and air travel picked up. Now, many airlines are offering $10,000 signing bonuses to lure workers back. But even if the pace of hiring were to pick up, it might not ease summer travel woes. It takes time to train and retrain employees, and airlines are continuing to discontinue flights altogether rather than risk costly delays.
This all comes despite airlines receiving more than $54 billion in federal COVID bailout funding. Where did that money go? And how could airlines have not foreseen a return to pre-pandemic levels of travel? Last Friday, more than 2.4 million people passed through security checkpoints at U.S. airports, coming within about 12,500 of breaking the pandemic-era high recorded on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year. They should have seen it coming.
"This is really an unacceptable situation," William McGee, senior fellow for aviation and travel at the nonprofit American Economic Liberties Project, told The Washington Post. "They got that big bailout with grants and loans and there was only one caveat: You need to make sure your staffing stays up. So what did airlines do? They found a loophole and they managed to encourage people to leave, which is exactly what Congress asked them not to do."
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said his department could take enforcement actions against airlines that fail to live up to consumer-protection standards. He is expected to make a decision after seeing how airlines handle the upcoming holiday.
The airlines, meanwhile, are hoping to cast some of the blame on the Federal Aviation Administration.
Nicholas Calio of the industry group Airlines for America, said the FAA has staffing problems of its own, especially when it comes to air traffic controllers.
"The industry is actively and nimbly doing everything possible to create a positive customer experience since it is in an airline's inherent interest to keep customers happy, so they return for future business," Calio said in a letter to Buttigieg.
The FAA didn't get $54 billion in federal funding to keep a key component of the nation's transportation system functioning. The airlines did, and it appears little of that money went to ensuring flights would resume as planned as the COVID pandemic eased.
The July 4 weekend will surely be a test for airlines. If they fail, it is incumbent on Buttigieg to use all the tools at his disposal — including fines and other enforcement measures — to bring some stability to the flying experience.
