The Federal Aviation Administration ’s unprecedented order to scale back flights nationwide because of the record-long government shutdown took effect Friday morning, with some passengers trying to figure out backup travel plans.
That has meant the stress of flying is ratcheting up for some fliers out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International on Friday, one of the 40 airports being reduced. MSP is among the busiest in the US, considered a large hub with more than 18 million flights in and out last year.
Ron Bohan flies a lot and he's headed to San Francisco to help family members in their move west. He doesn't like the uncertainty - but he also understands.
"Well, if they have to do it for safety reasons, I'm glad they are," Bohan told WCCO. "So, I'd be OK with being inconvenient, you know. If they had to delay for a little bit. But it's nice to keep everything on time if they can."
So far at least, flights between major hubs like MSP and San Francisco should not be affected. The short hop flights to smaller, regional airports that are being canceled at MSP. As of 7:30 a.m. fights to Denver, Green Bay, Minot, and Sioux Falls were cancelled.
Airlines also scrambled to adjust their schedules and began canceling flights Thursday in anticipation of the FAA’s official order, while travelers with plans for the weekend and beyond waited nervously to learn if their flights would take off as scheduled.
Airlines also planned cancellations into the weekend, directing passengers to check apps to learn their flight status.
The 40 airports selected by the FAA span more than two dozen states.
Charlie Kubesh is going to San Antonio for the weekend. It's his first flight in decades, and he runs into uncertainty.
"Well, I think we're OK going, coming back on Sunday, we might have a problem," he said. "I don't know, we'll have to see."
Since San Antonio is considered a medium hub, flights there could start to be affected later this weekend as airlines continues to adjust.
Travelers make other plans
Some flying out on Friday placed the blame directly on the politics at play in Washington with the government shutdown now the longest in U.S. history.
"Republicans, Democrats come together, find a little of reason," says MSP traveler Joe Harewicz.
Some travelers have decided just to cancel plans all together. "Canceled some travel next month and choosing to drive based on that so they won't have any issues," explains Courtney Holley in Detroit.
She's not alone. Car rental agency Hertz is reporting one-way rental reservations for this weekend are up 20% compared to last year at this time.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CBS Mornings the Senate should stop going home on weekends, and get a deal done.
"I think they should be here all weekend, every weekend, every week working on deals to open up the government," Duffy explained. "And I'll just tell you, you know, Republicans have voted 14 times to open up the government. Democrats have to figure out what do they want. Leverage is not an answer."
Cancellations will become more frequent unless shutdown ends
David Kinzelman is United Airlines' chief customer officer. He says the company expects to cut nearly 200 flights a day this weekend.
"The good news here is this isn't coming at a time when we have high volumes. It's not peak summer travel. It's not holidays," Kinzelman said. "So we feel really comfortable that we will have availability across the system to be able to accommodate customers on other flights."
The air traffic controllers union says the nation was thousands of controllers short before the shutdown. Now, many existing controllers are calling out sick, some even quitting after having gone weeks without pay and receiving a second, $0 pay stub Thursday.
Delta Air Lines said it would scratch roughly 170 flights Friday, and American Airlines planned to cut 220 a day through Monday.
The FAA said the reductions would start at 4% and ramp up to 10% by Nov. 14.
Travel analyst Henry Hartfeld says flight reductions could mean 450,000 people see their flights disrupted every day across the U.S.
"They're going to start with cuts on their regional networks, the flights operated, for example, by Delta Connection," says Hartfeld. "Then they'll go to the mainline flights. International flights, those are exempted. Those will operate as scheduled."