Travel

The Trump administration has officially withdrawn a proposal that would have compensated airline passengers for significant delays caused by issues within a carrier's control.Though the move was announced in September, the Department of Transportation formalized it in the Federal Register on Monday. It stated that it was withdrawing the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking submitted under President Joe Biden in December. Under the Biden-era plan, passengers would have received reimbursements based on how long the delays lasted. The scale began at $200 and went up to $775 for delays that lasted at least nine hours.The proposal was never enacted, but would have put U.S. regulation more closely aligned with airline rules in Europe. A spokesperson for the department said last week that the...

The Federal Aviation Administration will end its flight reduction emergency order on Monday, meaning flights will resume operations as normal, officials announced Sunday. The emergency order will officially lift Monday at 6 a.m. ET, bringing an end to the reductions that caused mass cancellations and delays at airports.The cuts, which started with a 4% reduction in flights at 40 major airports on Nov. 7, were designed to address fatigue and staffing issues among air traffic controllers amid the record-long government shutdown. It's being rolled back now that staffing levels have "stabilized" with the end of the government shutdown Wednesday, the FAA said. The decision to lift the order was made following an FAA review of "safety trends" and due to "the steady decline of staffing-trigger...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday night signed a bill that reopened the government after 43 days, paving the way for airlines to restore regular flight schedules and air traffic controllers, who have not been receiving pay as they worked through the shutdown, to return to work.But it remains unclear when full flight schedules and paychecks will be restored after the Federal Aviation Administration was forced to mandate flight restrictions at 40 high-traffic airports last week. On Wednesday night, the FAA ordered that cancellations would remain at 6% on Thursday, after two days at that rate and an initial plan to ramp up to 10% by Friday. As of Thursday morning, nearly 1,000 flights within the U.S. had already been canceled for the day, and more than 900 were delayed, according to flig...

Kentucky officials on Wednesday named the 14 victims who died in the UPS cargo plane crash last week.Officials named the victims at a press conference and said they do not believe any other people died in the crash just outside of the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport."Our city feels the full weight of this unimaginable tragedy," Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said. "Behind every one of these names is a circle of family, friends, stories that will forever be unfinished."UPS had already identified the three crew members — all of whom were pilots — who were on the plane: Captain Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt, and International Relief Officer Captain Dana Diamond.The crash occurred on Nov. 4 after the left engine of plane caught fire during takeoff and immediat...

For the second day, the Federal Aviation Administration will continue to enforce its mandate to cancel 6% of flights at 40 high-traffic airports, as the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on a Senate-passed bill to end the government shutdown.As of Wednesday morning, 890 flights within the U.S. had been canceled, and more than 750 flights had been delayed, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. United Airlines announced that it had already canceled 300 flights on Wednesday alone. Up to 8% of flights, or approximately 1,600 trips, could be cut on Thursday at the country’s busiest airports, including those in the New York area and in cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, and L.A.The FAA began reducing flights from major airports by 4% on Friday and ha...

Airlines are expected to cancel 6% of their flights at 40 high-traffic airports on Tuesday in compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration mandate amid the government shutdown, despite the Senate passing a preliminary agreement to end the impasse.As of Tuesday morning, more than 1,100 flights within the U.S. had already been canceled, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware, and more than 850 flights had been delayed. United Airlines posted a list of its canceled flights for Tuesday and Wednesday on its website. The lengthy list covers flights all day and across the entire country, starting at 6 a.m. and lasting until almost 9 p.m. The affected airports are in major cities such as Chicago, the New York area, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth. Transporta...

President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his criticism of air traffic controllers who have been absent during parts of the record-long government shutdown, when they're required to work without pay.During a Fox News interview, Trump roundly dismissed the employees who in some cases have had to take on second jobs to pay their bills amid a funding lapse that will hit the six-week mark on Tuesday.“You know, a lot of people who showed up also had a second job. They took a second job temporarily. But they all know the money’s coming, and the money was coming," Trump told host Laura Ingraham.Air traffic controllers are classified as essential government workers, meaning they must show for work during a shutdown, even though they're not getting paid. Members of the military, who are a...

There may soon be an end to the government shutdown that has been causing massive flight delays for weeks, but the travel nightmare caused by the political chaos in Washington showed no signs of abating Monday.A day after senators approved a preliminary agreement to end the impasse, which is now in its 41st day, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it would continue to restrict commercial flights into and out of some of the country's busiest airports.As of Monday morning, more than 1,400 flights had been canceled of the more than 25,000 scheduled, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. On Sunday, more than 2,600 flights were canceled, which amounted to about 10% of all scheduled flights. It's not clear how many were scheduled cancellations because of the shutdown a...

A routine journey to the skies may result in long lines and a change of plans as airlines abide by a Federal Aviation Administration order to cut flights by 4% in high traffic airports starting Friday.The cuts are building up to a 10% reduction in capacity at 40 locations, designed to ease pressure points and address fatigue among air traffic controllers as the government shutdown drags on. Here's how the reductions, delays and cancellations, are unfolding.Why is this happening?The government shutdown has hit the aviation industry hard, resulting in delays, cancellations, burnout and mounting pressure on short-staffed air traffic controllers. Air traffic controllers are highly specialized federal employees who have gone without pay in the shutdown, now in its second month.Since the star...

International flights are not expected to be affected by the shutdown. Major U.S. carriers also stressed Thursday that most flights won't be affected by the restrictions being applied to 40 high-traffic airports.American Airlines said that its initial schedule changes would amount to around 220 flights canceled each day — but that it plans to continue operating around 6,000 daily flights. United said it was continuing to make updates to its schedule. Others major carriers are advising passengers to try to stay flexible, however. Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle suggested Thursday that passengers should book a backup ticket on another airline if they need to travel in the next few days. In a LinkedIn post, Biffle wrote that while carriers like Frontier would be putting impacted passen...