Holiday travel nightmare continues: More flights canceled at LAX, other airports due to COVID issues
LOS ANGELES - Flight cancellations continued to plague Los Angeles International Airport and airports and around the world Wednesday, driven largely by staffing issues related to the latest surge in coronavirus cases.
RELATED: Airlines cancel, delay thousands more flights due to omicron, staff shortages
According to the tracking site FlightAware.com, more than 3,100 flights were canceled worldwide Tuesday, and more than 1,200 involved flights into or out of the United States.
The scrapped flights are largely blamed on airline staffing shortages caused by the latest surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the Omicron variant. Weather issues were also causing some of the cancellations.
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On Friday, 2,380 flights were canceled worldwide -- 690 involving U.S. flights and 86 at LAX.
There were 96 cancellations at LAX on Christmas Day, according to Flight Aware -- part of 997 total cancellations involving U.S. flights, and 2,858 worldwide.
The scrapped flights were largely blamed on airline staffing shortages caused by the latest surge in coronavirus cases, fueled by the Omicron variant. Weather issues were also causing some of the cancellations.
Seven cancellations were listed Sunday at Orange County's John Wayne Airport, six at Hollywood Burbank Airport and six at Long Beach Airport.
RELATED:
- Delta, United cancel dozens of flights out of LAX ahead of Christmas amid omicron surge
- Omicron variant causes Christmas flight cancellations and holiday travel headaches
After acknowledging the cancellations Friday, LAX did not comment on Saturday or Sunday's cancellations, but did tweet Sunday morning that "Today is expected to be another peak travel day at #LAX with up to 200,000 passengers using the airport! Make sure to arrive early for your flight, pre-book parking at http://parking.flylax.com, and please wear your mask - wishing everyone #HealthyHolidays #LAXTravelSafely."
The airport was dealing with a separate, storm-related electrical issue affecting Terminal 5, and said passengers using American Airlines, JetBlue or Spirit would be directed to use security checkpoints and baggage claims in Terminals 4 and 6.
"Cancellations and delays are possible, so it will be important to check your flight status today if flying through Terminal 5. Thank you for your patience," LAX tweeted Sunday morning.
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