NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Flight frustrations fly at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, as many travelers deal with postponed or canceled flights.
Over the weekend, American Airlines flights were getting canceled left and right. Some customers were forced to book with other airlines, while others are stuck here for a couple more days.
Like Justin Freeman, whose flight home is now delayed until Wednesday.
“It’s super frustrating. Like I have a job to do and I have to get back to work. Like this was just a weekend trip,” said Freeman.
Freeman is one of many American Airlines travelers who are stuck scrambling for solutions.
“I just think they should let us know ahead of time instead of having to come here to the airport and get ready. We checked out of our hotel now we’re just dealing with so many more things,” said Katie Swenson, who’s traveling from California.
WGNO reached out to American Airlines about the delayed and canceled flights. The company’s CEO is telling employees that inclement weather at their headquarters in Dallas caused several runways to shut down. The CEO also points to a staffing shortage.
“I think they need to do a better job at having people actually do their job and have people flying the plane so people can get where they need to go,” said Antoinette Love, who is traveling to Illinois.
“We just decided to go with Delta because we don’t want to deal with American anymore,” said Swenson.
A spokesperson with American also tells us the airline doesn’t anticipate any impacts for Tuesday’s schedule in New Orleans, but some customers say this experience has them reconsidering a trip on American in the future.
“If it gets any worse, then I’ll just find another airline. there are plenty of airlines,” said Freeman.
American Airlines says they are expecting to hire hundreds of more employees by the end of this year.