ST. LOUIS – The extreme wait times for crowds stranded in the northeast resulted in ripple effects at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, which faced widespread travel headaches.
“We’ve been delayed since Monday, and now it’s Wednesday,” said Kelly Keitzer, a traveler.
Severe storms in the northeast and Canada, not to mention smoke from raging wildfires seen blanketing St. Louis, add to a lingering staff shortage triggered by the pandemic, catapulting the airline industry into a travel nightmare as summer travel ramps up.
“It was just a fat line this morning; I got clear because of it,” said Tonina Saputo, a traveler.
According to FlightAware, so far Wednesday night, there have been 5,800 flights delayed and more than 1,000 canceled nationwide. Those issues trickled down to St. Louis.
An abundance of delays Tuesday night left luggage at baggage claim still waiting on their owners a day later.
“At 11:30, when our flight was they delayed it, delayed it again at 12:30,” said Carol Simpson, a traveler. “Delayed it again at 1:30 and then finally they said the trip was totally canceled, and we really shocked and didn’t know what to do at that point because this was an expensive trip.”
Simpson and her family have been at Lambert all day talking to customer service. Their trip to London by way of Canada now looks to be a bust.
“We were going to drive to Chicago and try to catch a 10 or 11p.m. flight tonight to London,” Simpson said. “We were willing to go to those extremes, but then we found out that there weren’t any available flights there either.”
United Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Air Canada are the most affected.
“We’ve just gotten in the habit of we drive everywhere, so it may take longer but less hassle,” said Amanda Zflores who was waiting to pick up her son from his flight home from Germany.
That hassle now coast to coast.