U.S. Travel Association, the travel industry’s trade association, said the decision to reduce scheduled flight capacity will inevitably affect the travel experience, leading to fewer flights, longer delays and more disruptions for travelers. The FAA has announced that it will cut flight schedules by 10% at 40 major airports across the country as the nation faces short staffing among unpaid air traffic controllers.
CEO Geoff Freeman said the decision to reduce scheduled flight capacity, “while necessary to keep our skies safe, will inevitably affect the travel experience, leading to fewer flights, longer delays and more disruptions for travelers.”
All government shutdowns are irresponsible, said Freeman, and this decision underscores the urgent need to reopen the government. He said the shutdown is putting unnecessary strain on the system, forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the U.S. air travel experience. The fault for this situation, he said, “rests squarely at the feet of Congress.”
Scott Kirby, CEO of United Alines, wrote a letter to employees saying that the carrier’s long-haul international flying and our hub-to-hub flying will not be impacted by the schedule reduction direction from the FAA. That’s important, he said, to maintain the integrity of the carrier’s network, give impacted customers as many options as possible to resume their trip and sustain crew pairing systems.
Instead, said Kirby, United will focus its schedule reductions on regional flying and domestic mainline flights that do not travel between its hubs.
United, said Kirby, will use its app, website and push notifications to communicate to customers directly if their flight changes, and to offer rebooking options. “We want to provide them with as much information as we can and in a way that’s simple and easy to understand,” he said.
And importantly, said Kirby, any customer traveling during this period is 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.
Even with these schedule reductions, said Kirby, United and its United Express partners will still offer about 4,000 flights per day to fly our customers to their destinations. And because of the early November timing, flights have more seats available than before the summer, meaning the airline should be able to find seats for many customers even if their flight is canceled.
Other carriers issued similar statement around scheduling and refund policies.
