Many Americans are dreaming about road trips these days as air travel appears to be only getting worse. More than 2,600 U.S. flights were canceled on Sunday due to inclement weather and the Omicron variant, which is causing severe staffing shortages among crews. That's on top of the 2,700 cancellations on Saturday, with delays seen for the majority of flights that managed to take off over the weekend.
Staggering statistic: U.S. carriers like United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL), American (NASDAQ:AAL), Delta (NYSE:DAL), JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU), SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW), Alaska Airlines (NYSE:ALK) and others have cancelled more than 10,000 combined flights since Dec. 23, which is among the busiest days for travel due to the holiday season.
Cabin crews, pilots and support staff have been reluctant to work overtime during the holidays despite offers of financial incentives. According to some airline unions, many also fear contracting COVID-19 during the peak travel season or don't want to deal with unruly passengers. In recent months, many flight attendants have unexpectedly had to take on additional roles, like cop or conflict resolution negotiator, with disorderly behavior plaguing many planes.
Go deeper: Looking to deal with the shortages, United Airlines (UAL) is now offering its pilots triple pay to pick up trips for most of January. Pilots were already offered three-and-a-half times their pay for flying open trips between Dec. 30 and Jan. 3, but the latest offer is good for the next month. United flight attendants are also getting extra pay for picking up trips, though other airlines haven't seen much success in raising crew compensation to avoid holiday flight disruptions.