Travelers stuck at Charlotte airport as flights delayed, canceled across US

CHARLOTTE — It was chaos this weekend at airports across the country. Dozens of flights were canceled and even more were delayed.

The issues continued into Monday at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where travelers still faced flight cancellations.

Channel 9′s Tina Terry checked flights coming into and leaving the airport Monday morning and already, there were more than two dozen announced delays and cancellations.

A spokesperson for American Airlines said the company is still recovering from the weekend. They said less than 1% of scheduled departures in Charlotte were canceled on Monday, but that 1% still left people frustrated.

Monday’s travel woes were nothing compared to this weekend’s, when Charlotte Douglas saw 872 delays and 395 cancellations.

“I was traveling for work and live an hour and a half away,” passenger Michelle McVay said. She woke up early Monday morning to catch a flight to Baltimore for work.

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“When I left this morning, they said my flight was on,” she said. Then, she got the news that it was canceled. “I had to spend 30 minutes with the customer service person,” McVay said.

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McVay said customer service told her staffing issues were to blame. American Airlines said that was one small part of the problem.

Charlotte wasn’t the only city that had a chaotic weekend. Airports all over the nation noticed the same trend with well over 3,000 flights being delayed over the weekend.

American said severe weather was the biggest cause, coupled with the staffing shortages and busy holiday weekend traffic.

Beverly Lynch was headed to a funeral when her flight to Charlotte was canceled.

“I went standby and I just happened to be first on the list, so I was a shoo-in,” Lynch said. “It was good.”

And while things are improving, people like McVay will spend the rest of Monday night waiting at the airport.

“I’m just going to be spending the night here and take an early flight in the morning,” McVay said.

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