Busy travel days expected to continue at Charlotte Douglas

CHARLOTTE — Tuesday is expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the year as folks wrap up their Fourth of July celebrations to return home.

The congestion arrives on the heels on another weekend of cancellations and delays nationwide. Nearly 9,000 flights were postponed over the weekend with another 1,000 canceled.

By 5 a.m. on Tuesday, 15 flights had already been canceled and another 17 were delayed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Hundreds of delays accumulated over the weekend.

Airlines say bad weather, along with increased travel demand and staffing shortages are to blame for the issues.

The union representing American Airlines pilots told ABC News that at least 12,000 flights are without pilots for the rest of the month. That’s after a computer glitch let thousands of pilots drop flights from their schedules.

It all comes as more than 2.5 million people passed through TSA this weekend, the highest number of passengers since February of 2020.

Some of those folks now can’t get home.

“My flight got canceled, but I didn’t know until I got to the gate,” one woman said.

“I spent $656 on a ticket and now I am still trying to find a way to get home,” another flier said.

Travel analyst Henry Harteveldt says the airport headaches aren’t going anywhere.

“We are seeing an airline industry that is stretched. And it doesn’t help that the FAA is also stretched,” he said. “This problem is not going to go away this summer. It’s not going to go away this year. I doubt it gets much better before the end of 2023.”

(WATCH BELOW: ‘Snowball effect’: Travel woes continue with more cancellations at Charlotte Douglas)

‘Snowball effect’: Travel woes continue with more cancellations at Charlotte Douglas

©2022 Cox Media Group