COLUMBUS – Thousands of flights were canceled over the holiday season, and many Ohioans are trying to make it back home for the new work week.
What You Need to Know:
- Total delays Sunday – 11,640
- Total delays within, into, or out of the United States Sunday – 4,758
- Total cancelations Sunday – 4,049
- Total cancelations within, into, or out of the United States Sunday – 2,408
Nana Ama Afifah was one of the thousands of Americans who experienced air travel troubles. She visited family in Ghana for three weeks. While trying to get home, she endured delays, cancelations and layovers.
On Sunday, the John Glenn Columbus International Airport had 26 canceled flights, according to FlightAware data. United Airlines notified Afifah about her flight cancelation via text, citing a lack of activity at the Columbus Airport for their decision. She had to book a new flight that included an extra layover, causing her to arrive home much later than intended.
“It was supposed to go straight from D.C. to here. But they had a cancelation, so we had to go to Newark. So Ghana to D.C., D.C. to Newark and then Newark to Columbus,” said Nana Ama Afifah. “It does make it a huge inconvenience because you pay a lot of money to go on international flights or even domestic flights. And something gets canceled, interrupted and now you have to shift your itinerary around just to accommodate what happened.”
Emilio Echevarria was on his way home from Mexico when his flight was delayed at his layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was one of the 62 Columbus airport delays, according to FlightAware data.
Echevarria is no stranger to these inconveniences. Over the past year, he’s experienced up to two or three delays trying to get back home. Knowing how unpredictable these challenges can be, Echavarria was unsure of when he’d get home.
“He started to say 30 minutes, and then another 30 minutes. I thought ‘Oh, I hope this won’t be like last time’,” Echevarria said.
There were 2,408 canceled flights within, into or going out of the United States on Sunday. FlightAware reported more than 11,000 canceled flights since Christmas Eve, with even more delays. Many airlines communicate changes with their passengers by e-mail and text. Passenger Kelsey Morosky said that she didn’t know why her flight was canceled, but she was left to figure out new plans on her own.
“We were flying Allegiant and they did give us a voucher and money back, so that was great. But I’m not sure why they canceled. We just got a text saying it was canceled,” Morosky said.
Travel has not been easy this holiday season with more than 74 cancelations and 191 delays between the three major Ohio airports: Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland. Ama Afifah says her experience won’t stop her from traveling, but she will have to be more prepared for bumps in the road.
“Have a,b,c,d,e and f planned, because if something changes, you want to be able to have a back up for the back up,” Ama Fifah explained. “Its like that now with Covid. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what’s going to go on. You just have to plan for the best and the worst at the same time.”
