Spirit Airlines' cancellation of hundreds of flights enters 4th day; some travelers stranded at LAX
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- For the fourth consecutive day, Spirit Airlines on Wednesday continued to cancel hundreds of its scheduled flights across the U.S. -- leaving some travelers stranded at Los Angeles International Airport.
A Spirit spokesperson told ABC News the cancellations were the result of a "perfect storm," blaming weather, staffing shortages and crews reaching the hour limits in which they are legally able to fly.
As of 10 a.m., the airline had canceled 60% of its Wednesday schedule, CNN reported. That percentage represented more than 400 flights, according to FlightAware.
Spirit said the cancellations are expected to subside "over the course of the next few days."
Meanwhile, travelers such as Jiselle Barsall remained frustrated.
"They just told us, 'We're ready to -- in any minute we're going to be getting in," Barsall, who had been stuck at LAX since Tuesday morning, told ABC7 in an interview at the airport. "It was supposed to be at 9, it ended up being at 11:30. At 11:30 they told us, 'Yeah, at any minute.'
"They didn't tell us anything at all," she continued. "They just told us that they had like a problem with software -- where all the crew members were in, and they didn't know where they were."
Spirit and American Airlines canceled more than 800 flights combined on Monday, and delayed more than 1,000.
In order to get their operations back on track, they proactively canceled 313 flights, which is around 40% of their daily operation. The cancellations gave Spirit "breathing room" to ensure crews and planes can get to the right locations, the spokesperson said.
Transportation Security Administration officers screened more than 2.2 million people at U.S. airports nationwide Sunday --- the highest checkpoint volume since the start of the pandemic.
All U.S. airlines and the TSA have struggled with staffing as air travel has rapidly jumped from historic lows to approaching pre-pandemic levels.
When air travel came to a halt in March 2020, thousands of employees were offered early retirements and buyouts, but now the airlines are desperate to fill these positions again.
