Agency Condescends to Stranded Air-Travelers

A poorly-timed joke set forth by the FAA has engendered umbrage in the hearts of U.S. air-travelers contending with thousands of delayed or canceled flights at the onset of the frantic July Fourth holiday weekend.

On 27 June, the agency released a tweet depicting a partially-solved Wheel of Fortune puzzle spelling out: _NR_LY – PASS_NG_RS. Beneath the puzzle, a clue read “What ruins your flight?”

The FAA’s tweet was prefaced with text reading: "There's nothing puzzling about bad behavior on a flight—it doesn’t fly and can cost you big [money] or jail-time,"

Since Monday, 26 June, upwards of nine-thousand Part 121 airline flights have been canceled and another 116,000 delayed. United Airlines has been compelled to cancel some five-hundred flights at Denver International Airport (DEN) alone.

"It’s disappointing to me to hear that the FAA is tweeting jokes about unruly passengers," an air-traveler stranded at DEN remarked. "They’re tweeting while people are losing money, losing wages."

Another U.S. air-traveler—forced along with her husband to pass a night on an airport floor as they attempted to make their way to Iceland—stated: "FAA, get your act together! You should be helping us, not making fun of us."

"I was ticked!" the inconvenienced individual asserted vis-à-vis the cancellation of the flight aboard which she and her husband were to have traveled to Iceland. "Just seems like they could be better organized."

"I blame the airlines themselves," said a traveler fighting her way to New Orleans. "I think they are overbooking and not taking the time to consider the customers." Regrettably, subject traveler—for want of an alternative flight—was forced to abandon her cruise vacation entirely.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby impugned the Federal Aviation Agency's decision to cancel thousands of flights over the 24-25 June weekend on account of less-than-perfect weather. The cancellations and delays affected more than 150,000 United Airlines customers.

In a 26 June email to United employees, Kirby set forth the FAA had "failed" the airline by ordering flight cancellations and delays at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in response to weather conditions United amid difficult weather conditions the agency "has historically been able to manage."

Mr. Kirby continued: "I'm … frustrated that the FAA frankly failed us this weekend. As you know, the weather we saw in EWR is something that the FAA has historically been able to manage without a severe impact on our operation and customers."

Responding to Kirby’s criticisms, the FAA stated: "We will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem."

A traveler attempting to make her way to Syracuse, New York had her flight rescheduled six-times before it was canceled outright in the middle of the night—thereby precluding her attendance of a memorial service for a deceased aunt. The woman’s bags were lost as well.

"All my family is there,” the bereaved traveler rued, “and I can’t get there.”

A Virginia man bound for Montana was stranded in Denver on account of consecutive flight delays. Shortly after his flight was finally boarded—around midnight—he and the entirety of his fellow-passengers were forcibly deplaned insomuch as the flight-crew had run short of duty time.

"It’s gotten to the point where it's ridiculous," the Virginia man averred.

A female passenger headed for Orlando, Florida was advised by ticket agents that her flight had been canceled. She was rebooked onto a flight the following day and returned home. Upon arriving at the airport the following morning, the woman was summarily informed her second flight, too, had been canceled.

"I haven’t slept,” the frustrated woman deplored. “It’s uncomfortable. They aren’t really helping us. They're not telling us anything. All they do is send a notification to my son's phone that it [the flight] is canceled, but they don’t explain why it's canceled."

Voicing frustration over his own delayed flight, a Montana man enroute to Hawaii stated: "I left work early and everything. I could’ve stayed and worked the rest of the day."

On Thursday, 29 June, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg prevaricated: "With the exception of United, airlines have recovered to a more typical cancellation/delay rate as of this morning, after the severe weather earlier this week.”

FMI: www.faa.gov