Halloween Disruption: American Airlines cancels and delays more than 1400 Sunday flights

Published on : Monday, November 1, 2021

American Airlines has cancelled more than 1,500 flights over Halloween weekend, pointing to weather disruptions in Texas and tight staffing.

After cancelling nearly 550 flights, the Texas-based carrier on Sunday cancelled more than 1,000 flights and delayed more than 400 flights, according to flight tracker Flight Aware. More than 450 Monday flights have also been cancelled.

In a Saturday letter to staff shared, American Airlines said the cancellations were caused by two days of severe winds in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

This weather drove a large number of cancellations at DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport), as we could only use two runways instead of the usual five that handle our operation,” the letter says. With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of the regular flight sequences.

American Airlines said that it proactively cancelled some flights to “make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews.”

Some passengers took to social media to voice their frustration. Most of the customers impacted by the cancellations were rebooked the same day, according to the airline.

American Airlines also noted that it would have more staff available in the coming days, with nearly 1,800 flight attendants returning from leave starting November 1 and more than 600 new hires by the end of December. Another 4,000 new workers are expected to join between October and December.