NYC Summer Flight Cancelations Are Highest In Nation, Officials Say

NEW YORK CITY — Travelers arriving and departing New York City-area airports this summer are experiencing more and more turbulence on their trips without actually leaving the ground, officials warn.

Flight cancelation rates at the Big Apple's three major airports this summer are the highest in the nation — a statistic that prompted New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday to call for federal action against airlines.

Liberty International ranked first in cancelations, followed by LaGuardia and JFK International at second and ninth, James said in a pointed missive asking Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to stop airlines from advertising and booking flights they know likely won't have enough employees to work.

"The skyrocketing number of flight cancelations and delays in airports across the country is unacceptable and travelers have endured too much confusion and frustration," she said in a statement.

James' request not only follows a recent spate of mass cancelations at New York City-area airports, but also a surge in traveler complaints nationwide.

Complaints were 200 percent over pre-pandemic levels in May, according to the latest data available in the July U.S. Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer Report.

The data showed May's complaints were down 15 percent from April, when they were a whopping 300 percent over pre-pandemic levels.

Just 55.3 percent of flights landing in Newark that month were on time, followed by 69.8 percent and 70.1 percent, respectively, of arrivals at LaGuardia and JFK, according to the report.

Of Newark's departures in May, 57.7 percent were on time, the data shows. On-time departures occurred 70.7 percent and 71 percent of the time at LaGuardia and JFK, respective, according to the data.

And it's important to keep in mind that actual traveler experiences in June and July aren’t reflected in the report.

Travelers have faced deep lines, longer layovers and lost luggage this summer, with airline and airport staff shortages most often cited as the reason, according to Business Insider.

Americans’ experiences over the last holiday travel weekend — the 4th of July — weren't exactly reassuring either. Airlines canceled more than 1,100 flights, a quarter of them United Airline, which said in a message to staff that more flights were scheduled than the air traffic control system could handle, Reuters reported.

James noted that 2.8 percent of all flights in the United States were canceled during the first six months this year — a 33 percent increase compared to the same span in 2019.

Her office received complaints from numerous New Yorkers, according to a release.

"One couple whose flight was canceled was left with no choice but to drive from Buffalo to Newark so that they could still make their connecting international flight," the release states.

In James' letter, she requested federal transportation officials require that airlines only advertise and sell only as many flights as they have employees to work. She also demanded that airlines be required to provide full or partial refunds for canceled or rescheduled flights, as well as compensate passengers for hotel stays, taxi fares, car rentals and other expenses related to cancelations.