There have been a huge number of flight delays and cancellations for different reasons over the last couple of weeks. There were more than 2,000 cancellations on Friday. This is the most cancellations since June 2023.
The main reason for this is winter weather; a big winter storm has been moving through the Midwest and cancelling planes. Fourteen percent of flights at O’Hare are canceled, and sixty percent of flights at Midway are canceled. These are the two main airports in Chicago that are being hit the hardest by the strikes.
In a social media post about the delays and cancellations, O’Hare said, “650 flights have been proactively canceled.” There are also canceled flights at a lot of other airports in the Midwest.
All of these trips have been canceled because all 737 MAX 9 planes have been taken out of service. Every week, more than 200 United Airlines and Alaska Airlines trips are canceled because the planes haven’t been inspected or cleared to fly.
Since a door plug flew off a 737 MAX 9 plane in the air and caused a lot of anger on social media, the planes have been grounded for repairs and checks. More problems were found with these Boeing planes when they were inspected along with other 737 MAX 9 planes.
Airlines are talking about the delays so that passengers know what they do and why they do it. United Airlines said in a statement, “By canceling this early, we’re trying to give our customers more peace of mind and give our frontline teams more time to do their jobs.”
Since Saturday, the planes have not been able to fly because the FAA told them to stop 171 of their Boeing planes for inspections. They said that the checks could take anywhere from four to eight hours per plane, which would cause many of their passengers to miss their flights.
“We’re sorry that the cancellations that happened because of these planes not being able to work have caused so much trouble for our guests.” The airline said in a statement, “The safety of our employees and guests is our top priority. We will only put these planes back into service when all of the problems have been fixed and they meet all of the FAA’s and Alaska’s strict standards.”
