Many people go on vacations in the summer; however this past summer, there were many complications with traveling. People all around the world were experiencing issues with flights such as cancellations and delays.   

CNBC says that nearly 176,000 flights arrived at least 15 minutes late between June 1 and June 29, and more than 20,000 flights were canceled. That is more than 23% of scheduled flights, according to flight tracker FlightAware. In April, the Transportation Department received 3,105 complaints about U.S. Airlines. This is up about 300% from complaints in April 2021.

CNBC says that most Airlines blame these impediments to flights on bad weather, staffing shortages and staffing problems at the government’s air traffic control.

Over the summer, some students from Spanish Club and Art Club went on a school trip to Barcelona and Paris. The group experienced many mishaps with their flights while flying with Air Canada.

“The COVID‑19 pandemic brought the world air transport system to a halt in early 2020. Now, after more than two years, global travel is resurgent, and people are returning to flying at a rate never seen in our industry,” Air Canada president and CEO Michael Rousseau said. 

On the way to Spain, there were complications with the tickets, and getting through security took longer than expected. Most flights they scheduled were delayed or canceled, and they spent a lot of time in airports. 

“My flights were terrible. We waited in the airport for like two extra hours every day. I got stuck in security with only Leannah’s mom, and we almost got left behind,” senior Daniel Lewis said. 

Also, some people lost their luggage or had various luggage issues. 

“I didn’t have my luggage our whole trip. Air Canada wasn’t very helpful either,” senior Colin Fricke said. 

On the way back home from the trip, there were even more complications. 

“Our flights got moved three different times when we were trying to go home. We were going to have to stay in the airport for an extra night and an extra day when we were in Toronto, so many people just Ubered across the border home,” Lewis said. 

Some people that didn’t Uber across the border had to stay an extra night. 

“I had to stay the whole night at a hotel and leave at around 4 A.M. that night to catch a flight to another part of Canada. From there, we had to book it, like ‘Home Alone,’ and run to our next flight. The gate was already closed when we got there, and thankfully they opened it for us, and we got to arrive in Pittsburgh that day,” senior Dakota Reinhart said.  

Also over the summer, some other students’ trips experienced flight troubles. Senior Kaylee Ostrowski went with her family to the Dominican Republic but arrived a day late due to late flights. 

“During my flight to Newark, our plane was delayed flying from Pittsburgh because there were weather complications. Once the weather was cleared up, we were then told that we could take off, but we had to go back to the airport to get gas. This took a lot of time and caused us to miss our next flight to the Dominican Republic. And because that flight was a layover to another flight, when we arrived at Newark, we got stuck there for a day,” Ostrowski said. 

Flights this past summer struggled with timeliness and caused stress to many travelers and vacationers.