Many people travel to visit family and friends over the holidays. The idea of going home for Christmas is something that many people make a reality, gathering with their loved ones who live far away.

Unfortunately, sometimes a delayed or canceled flight can stand in the way of holiday plans. When we think of flight delays and cancelations we usually think of the reason being either bad whether that makes it unsafe to fly or a mechanical problem with the plane that makes it necessary for passengers to board a different plane. Neither of those reasons is the cause of the current flight delays and cancelations.

When an airline staff member tests positive for Covid, he or she has to self isolate. Until recently, the recommendation was to self isolate for a full 10 days and to take another Covid test before leaving isolation. This issue of airlines losing staff for over a week due to a positive Covid test has left them incredibly short staffed. Thus, there have been many flight delays and cancelations.

This isn’t a small issue either. We’re talking over 1,000 canceled flights every day since Christmas Eve within the United States.  That’s a lot of people who didn’t get to celebrate Christmas with their families, and those who did may find it difficult to fly back home. The Monday and Tuesday after Christmas, there were a total of 2,800 flights canceled each day, and that doesn’t even include all of the thousands of flight delays.

Airlines are apologetic about all of the flight delays and cancelations during the busiest travel season of the year. In a statement, Delta explained, “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans. Delta people are working hard to get them to where they need to be as quickly and as safely as possible on the next available flight.”

Meanwhile, in a memo, United pointed out the reason behind the cancelations. “The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation.”

Watch the video below to learn more about the situation at airports across the country and the potentially good news that might help cut down on flight delays and cancellations in the future.

Do you usually travel over the holidays? Do you know anyone who had their travel plans messed up by flight delays or cancellations this holiday season?