BWI Airport travelers worry about ongoing flight cancellations ahead of holidays

BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland saw more than 20 additional flight cancellations Wednesday as travelers continued to wait for the government shutdown to end.

Flight cancellations escalated to 6% nationwide Tuesday and will increase to 10% by the end of the week, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It comes after the administration issued an emergency order last week due to air traffic controller staffing issues caused by the shutdown.

Travelers at BWI said they were glued to their phones checking the status of their flights.  

"Very nerve-wracking, checking on my phone all day today, whether or not Southwest, which is the airline I'm flying, is canceling the flight," said Ari Asag, from Columbia, Maryland, who's traveling to Chicago.

"Mostly just a lot of worry that I was even going to be able to get home," said Mirabel Boctoi, who lives in Dundalk and is traveling to Buffalo. "My mom's sick right now, so getting there was like the most important thing." 

Southwest Airlines canceled 155 domestic flights from its schedule nationwide on Tuesday, with another 145 on Wednesday. American Airlines canceled about 200 flights on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Potential holiday travel issues

Even if the Senate-backed spending bill to end the shutdown passes in the House on Wednesday and the president signs it, the travel impacts could continue into the holiday season.

"You're going to see this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday," said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. "Big disruption thus far, massively more disruption as we come into the weekend if the government doesn't open."  

The Department of Transportation said certain safety benchmarks must be met in the sky and at the air traffic control tower before returning to a full flight schedule.

Impact on pilots, flight attendants

Duffy said air traffic controllers will likely be paid 70% of what they are owed within two days of the government reopening. For other aviation workers, who may be seeing less in their paycheck because of the flight cuts, there's no money to make up for their loss in pay.

While air traffic controllers and TSA now face their second pay cycle without a check, pilots could also feel the impact on their wallets. 

Joshua Schirard, a commercial pilot, said most get a base monthly pay and can earn more money by picking up flight hours and premium routes.

"We're seeing a lot of that dialing back of those extra flights, and that availability for pilots to make that extra money," Schirard added.

Flight attendants could also see a change in their pay. Schirard says most are paid per flight hour, meaning if they aren't able to pick up the same number of flights, their pay will be impacted.

Another concern is major delays and ground stops because of air traffic controller staffing. These delays cut into a pilot's duty time, making it possible they time out and legally aren't allowed to fly.

"He [a pilot] is getting backed up to his duty time for the day. He's likely to time out before his last segment, which means now we've got to find another crew," Schirard said.