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CHRISTMAS TRAVEL PLANS RUINED DUE TO AIRPORT STRANDING
According to estimates by the American Automobile Association (AAA), nearly 110 million Americans planned to travel by car, train, or plane between December 23, 2021, and January 2, 2022—a 34% increase compared to 2020. Most of these travel plans were made by American travelers before the Omicron outbreak became a "dominant" variant in the US, affecting a high percentage of patients in some hospitals and among healthcare workers.
Although a recent study showed that Omicron causes milder illness and lower hospitalization rates compared to previous variants of Covid-19, health officials still cautioned people to be wary of the possibility of unpredictable developments. Therefore, before this year's Christmas holiday, many Americans got tested for Covid-19 and made early travel plans. Those who were fully vaccinated felt even more confident traveling throughout the holiday season.
A family dressed in Christmas "uniforms" eagerly arrived at Orlando airport, only to likely find themselves stranded there as well.
Over the three days from December 24-26, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened more than 2 million passengers each day at airports nationwide – double the number of passengers in the same period of 2020.
Los Angeles Airport alone is expected to see approximately 3.5 million travelers passing through it from December 17, 2021 to January 3, 2022. While this number is significantly lower than the 45 million travelers in the same period of 2019, it is considerably higher than the 1.85 million travelers in the same period of 2020.
However, tens of thousands of travelers who had booked flights much later, close to Christmas, were stranded due to numerous flight delays and cancellations. Images from airports across the United States showed long lines of travelers waiting for hours, but many were still unable to catch a flight to get home or to their planned Christmas destinations. Some were forced to spend Christmas at the airport.
On December 24th, approximately 2,400 flights were canceled and 11,000 flights were delayed, according to Flightaware.com.
REVEALED""THE HIDDEN CULPRIT" OMICRON
The Straits Times reported on December 26, citing AFP, that nearly 2,800 flights were canceled globally on Saturday, December 25 alone, including over 970 flights to/from US airports, along with more than 8,000 delayed flights. Prior to that, on Friday, December 24, approximately 2,400 flights were canceled and 11,000 were delayed; the number of canceled flights on Sunday, December 26, was around 1,100. (The Daily Mail reported approximately 492 canceled flights and 1,636 delayed flights on December 26).
The common reason is that many pilots, flight attendants, and airline staff have reported sick or had to quarantine due to contracting Covid-19. Therefore, airlines such as Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, and even the German airline Lufthansa have been forced to postpone/cancel many flights during the peak Christmas travel season.
Tourists lined up in long queues at JFK airport in New York on December 24th, despite having little hope of making it to Christmas as planned.
US airline Delta canceled 310 flights on December 25th and several dozen more on December 26th because it had "exhausted all options and resources, including rerouting, replacing aircraft and crew to operate scheduled flights." Delta apologized to customers for the delays to their holiday travel plans.
United Airlines canceled 168 flights on December 24th and another 47 on December 25th. At JFK Airport in New York, passengers were still queuing in long lines on the morning of December 26th due to the airline's printing problems with airline ticket bags…
German airline Lufthansa announced on December 26th that it had to cancel dozens of transatlantic flights to Houston, Boston, and Washington during the Christmas holiday period due to "an increase in pilots taking sick leave," despite having a large number of additional staff available for the time being.
This family's Christmas vacation plans appear to have fallen apart as they remained stranded at the airport on December 24th.
Massive flight delays and cancellations occurred as the US recorded 151,915 new positive Covid-19 tests on Christmas Day, bringing the total number of Omicron infections to 4,644. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that up to 73% of all new Covid-19 infections were caused by Omicron, a figure as high as 92% in five states, including New York and New Jersey.
