What appears to America is ready to travel and celebrate Independence Day. But there won’t be freedom from the frustration and chaos that’s already piling up. Tonight, we can report with more than four hundred and forty flights were canceled, and more than thirty-two hundred delayed, that’s just today. Flight demand is returning to near pre-pandemic levels and so have the travel nightmares with airlines struggling with pilot and other staffing shortages. Airlines, you could say, are really facing a test on the eve of what’s going to be one of the busiest travel days. And if you want a sign of how it might go, the CEO of Delta Airlines is apologizing to customers. The situation so dire the company is taking employees with office jobs and sending them to the ticket counter to check bags.

Cancellations are stacking up across the country tonight, as US airlines continue to struggle to serve their own customers. Typically, fliers are concerned their flights won’t take off one time. But these days, more and more passengers are worried their flights won’t take off at all. At airports nationwide tonight, the holiday rush became holiday hurry up and wait. Airports are already seen a steady flow of passengers. The TSA reports more than two million have passed the checkpoints most days this month, as flight traffic approaches pre-pandemic levels. But airlines are struggling to meet demand. Since Memorial Day, airlines have canceled more than twenty-one thousand flights, double the rate of last year. In an effort to make up for some of that. American Airlines regional carriers are offering pilots three times their pay to pick up extra shifts. But United and Delta announced schedule reductions for July, sending these pilots to the picket lines. Travelers who choose to drive instead of fly will face high prices at the pump. The national average is down since climbing over $5 per gallon two weeks ago but remains at $4.86, $1.75 higher than last year.

:::tip picket

• : SENTRY 警哨

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