Your next flight might be canceled as the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to cut flights at major airports due to the government shutdown.
Starting Friday, 10% of flights at 40 airports will be cut in response to air traffic control staffing shortages.
As of early Thursday morning, most airlines said they were still evaluating how their schedules would be affected.
With short notice and complex networks, it’s not a simple task for airlines to cut flights. Carriers need to figure out how to minimize knock-on effects from planes and crews being left out of place.
If you have a flight booked from Friday onward, you should check with the airline about its status. Any cancellations or changes should be communicated to you.
In a LinkedIn post, Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said: “If your flight is canceled, your chances of being stranded are high, so I would simply have a backup ticket on another airline.”
“I’m sorry this is happening,” he added. “Just giving everyone practical travel advice.”
Frontier said it expects most of its flights will operate as planned, but will communicate with impacted customers “where changes to flight schedules are necessary.”
It’s also letting customers booked to travel during this period change or cancel their flights.
United Airlines has so far provided the greatest detail on its plans to deal with the cuts.
In a memo to staff, CEO Scott Kirby said long-haul international flights and those between its seven US hubs would not be affected.
“That’s important to maintain the integrity of our network, give impacted customers as many options as possible to resume their trip, and sustain our crew pairing systems,” he said.
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Instead, cancellations are likely to affect regional flights and domestic ones that don’t go between two hubs.
United’s US hubs are Chicago O’Hare, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
The airline is also offering refunds to anyone booked to travel during the period of traffic reductions.
Meanwhile, other carriers have yet to say how the cuts will affect them.
American Airlines said it was “awaiting additional information from the FAA to determine which flights will be impacted.”
It added that it expects the “vast majority” of customers to be unaffected, but will “proactively reach out” to those who are.
Southwest Airlines said it “is evaluating how the planned FAA flight reductions will affect our schedule and will communicate directly with customers as soon as possible.”
Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Spirit Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside US working hours.
