What's the outlook for flyers this holiday season? Here's a look at the numbers.
NEW YORK -- Here's the good news for your holiday travel: flight cancellations are down compared to last year. The bad news? Delays are up.
So what does that mean for holiday travelers, one year after a fiasco that caused holiday headaches across the United States?
Every Christmas, Jordan Dillard and her dog fly back home to Colorado to celebrate with family. But this year? Christmas is right here in Brooklyn.
"I'm staying here on the East Coast. I, yeah, I told my mom, I just, I can't go through that kind of stress again," Dillard said.
That stress was documented through Dillard's Instagram stories and text messages, when her flight back to LaGuardia last year was delayed more than two hours then canceled.
- Related story (12/23/22): Storm forces cancellation of hundreds of flights at Tri-State Area airports
On top of that, she says Southwest gave conflicting answers on where her luggage went and she didn't get it back for more than a week.
"It was really tough because I had medication in that bag, all of my winter clothes were there because I was in Colorado, and so my coat, my only pair of warm boots, all of my make-up was in there, skincare," she said. "You can't guarantee that's not gonna happen again."
This year, 21% of all U.S. flights were delayed from January to December. That's up slightly from last year and nearly 4% higher than pre-pandemic.
The data from the airline tracker FlightAware also shows average delay times jumped three minutes this year.
"There's probably a variety of factors. One is we are still short-staffed air traffic control wise, and especially in the busy northeast corridor, which, you know, compromises also New York LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, some very busy airports," said Kathleen Bangs with FlightAware.
But only 1.3% of flights have been canceled in 2023, down from last year and even from 2019, and the rate stayed low even as a record-breaking number of people flew over Thanksgiving weekend.
Experts say airlines have scaled back their schedules and ramped up staffing.
"Everything, of course, will depend on the weather, but I think we're definitely going to see the airlines well-prepared going into this holiday season," Bangs said.
Last December, it was a blizzard that set off a chain of events that led to 16,000 canceled Southwest flights and 2 million stranded passengers.
- Read more (12/29/22): Southwest Airlines scrubs thousands more flights as it struggles to rebound
To avoid another meltdown, Southwest says it increased staff at cold-weather airports and added more de-icing trucks and other equipment to adapt to winter weather. The airline also says it upgraded its internal software to better handle challenges.
"I used to love flying," Dillard said.
None of that is enough to win back Dillard and Ernie.
"I flew multiple times a year, and now I avoid it like the plague," Dillard said.
So if weather cancels your flight, you are entitled to a full refund, but sometimes the airline is to blame, due to maintenance or crew issues. If that's the case and it's an overnight cancellation, then 9 out of the top 10 U.S. airlines -- all but Frontier -- will cover hotel rooms and transportation.
If a cancellation gets you stuck for three hours, all of the top 10 airlines will cover a meal. JetBlue and Alaska say they'll also provide travel vouchers in that situation.
For more information about what each airline does or does not offer, click here.
