Thousands of flights have been canceled across the U.S. over the past week amid the COVID-19 omicron variant's surge, and airlines are scrambling to get things under control.
Clint Henderson, Senior News Editor of the Points Guy, said the disruption is being caused by a multitude of factors.
"Hugely spreading variant of coronavirus combined with airlines, hotels, airports being short staff combined with some weather systems," Henderson told KCBS Radio.
JetBlue, for instance, is cutting thousands of flights because of spiking cases of the omicron variant and staffing concerns. In the past two days, the airline has cut about 1,300 flights.
"We haven't seen a meltdown like this in years, frankly," Henderson said. "And unfortunately it's impacting every airline right now."
Many airlines are adjusting their schedules and having fewer flights to minimize day-of flight cancelations for customers.
"The airlines were already operating on a razor margin of staff," he said. "So, any hiccup is disastrous."
Unfortunately, Henderson said relief probably won't come any time soon. He expects these problems to continue to plague airlines into the new year.
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