As if air travel wasn’t stressful enough…
On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation announced a decision to reduce air traffic by 10% at 40 “high-volume” markets across the country starting Friday.
Unless, that is, the government shutdown concludes before then.
Which could be a stretch.
The FAA didn’t say which markets would be affected, but not long after the announcement, airlines began sharing how they planned to respond to the directive.
In a memo to employees and on social media, United Airlines said the reductions will start on Friday, November 7.
“United’s long-haul international flying and our hub-to-hub flying will not be impacted by this schedule reduction direction from the FAA,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in the memo, “Instead, we will focus our schedule reductions on regional flying and domestic mainline flights that do not travel between our hubs.”
He added that customers traveling during this period will be eligible for a refund if they do not wish to fly – even if their flight isn’t impacted. That includes non-refundable tickets and those customers with basic economy tickets.
American Airlines also shared a statement.
“While we are awaiting additional information from the FAA to determine which flights will be impacted, we expect the vast majority of our customers’ travel will be unaffected. As schedule changes are made, we will proactively reach out to customers who are impacted,” the airline said on Wednesday evening.
Southwest Airlines said it is evaluating how the planned FAA flight reductions will affect its schedule. “We know that these FAA-imposed cancellations can impact an important moment in your life. We appreciate your understanding,” the airline said in a statement.
Other airlines are making plans as well and we’ll no doubt learn a lot more on Thursday.
In the meantime if, like us, you have a flight scheduled in the next few days, keep an eye on your inbox, your airline app and on the news.
