San Francisco

Airports rocked by delays and cancellations on busiest travel week of the summer

As of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, there were 357 delays and 57 cancellations at SFO

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The busiest travel weekend of the summer is off to a very rough start.

A total of 1,700 flights were canceled and 5,600 delayed nationwide Tuesday and the problems stretched from the northeast to the Bay Area.

Two main problems contributed -- the weather and staffing shortages.

Video from Newark Liberty Airport showed people waiting more than five hours for United Airlines baggage from canceled flights. 

Some people had been there since Sunday night.

The weather problem starts back east with thunderstorms causing delays, and it snowballs from there.

“Usually between 6 and 9 p.m., a lot of the east coast flights arrive at SFO. And then an hour or two later they turn around and they are the redeye back to the east coast,” said aviation analyst Mike McCarron.

But it’s not just bad weather. The FAA is dealing with staffing shortages, especially at control towers. 

A total of 77% of airports across the country are understaffed. But it’s not just a shortage of controllers.

Tina Lau was stranded at SFO on her way to San Diego, but she saw something Tuesday that made her feel sorry for others.

“It was even announced that the pilots didn’t show up,” she said. “And the whole plane had been boarded, and they had to deplane.”

The Brown family was at SFO trying to get to Memphis when mechanical issues delayed their flight.

“The flight was at 12 and it was 2:15 and 4:30 then 6 then 8, and then it was cancelled,” said Kyle Brown, adding that they had another flight lined up in two days.

As of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, there were 357 delays and 57 cancellations at SFO.

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