Widespread flight disruptions at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) continued to cause issues for travelers at the facility into Monday afternoon.?
The hub, which is the 14th busiest in the United States, has been mired in operational challenges over the past week due to air traffic controller staffing shortages and equipment outages.?
After a weekend of hundreds of flight delays and cancellations, the disruptions continued into the work week. As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, Newark had at least 275 delays and 151 cancellations, according to FlightAware’s tracker. Flights scheduled to fly into Newark were facing four-hour delays at their airports of origin.
“Due to STAFFING / LOW CEILINGS, there is a Traffic Management Program in effect for traffic arriving Newark International Airport, Newark, NJ (EWR),” an alert from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said late Monday morning. There was also cloudy weather in the New York/New Jersey area—called low ceilings in aviation parlance—that was further complicating operations. “This is causing some arriving flights to be delayed an average of 3 hours and 59 minutes.”
Travel advisors are working to make their clients aware of the potential issues at the New Jersey hub. Clients with layovers at Newark are a particular concern, says Brett Snyder of Cranky Concierge. “We always proactively monitor flights at Cranky Concierge, but we are actively flagging Newark flights to make sure there's a comfort level with connecting times,” Snyder says. “We are also keeping an eye open for possible reaccommodation options well in advance. Then we are quick to respond and help talk people through what's happening if they have concerns.”
Some advisors are trying to reroute their clients if at all possible.
"I’m doing everything I can to help my clients avoid getting caught in the chaos," says Mandee Migliaccio, CEO of Stepping Out Travel Services. "I’ve been rerouting as many travelers as possible through alternate airports like Philadelphia, avoiding Newark for layovers, and building in extra connection time when needed."?
The situation at Newark reached a boiling point on Friday, when United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the carrier would be forced to cancel 35 round-trip flights per day out of Newark—about 10% of its schedule from the airport—for the foreseeable future. “It's disappointing to make further cuts to an already reduced schedule at Newark, but since there is no way to resolve the near-term structural FAA staffing issues, we feel like there is no other choice in order to protect our customers,” Kirby said in a release on May 2. Newark is a major operational hub for United., and Kirby’s comments raised safety issues on whether Newark was safe for travelers.?
According to Kirby, the chaos started early last week when “on more than one occasion, technology that FAA air traffic controllers rely on to manage the airplanes coming in and out of Newark airport failed - resulting in dozens of diverted flights, hundreds of delayed and canceled flights and worst of all, thousands of customers with disrupted travel plans,” the CEO said. Making matters worse, “over 20% of the FAA controllers for EWR walked off the job,” according to Kirby.
Advisors say that in these situations, it’s important for travelers to stay flexible.
“The Newark situation is very fluid, and it's hard to make people feel comfortable, but we are doing our best to just answer questions and closely monitor flights,” says Snyder. “With United cutting back on flying, that should help to ease the delays in the near term, but it's hard to know since it all depends on ATC staffing.”??
Some are making the judgement call when to tell clients to rebook if operational issues might negatively impact their tirp. "I’m also keeping a close eye on schedules, working closely with airline partners to secure rebookings and proactively adjusting plans if something looks like it might impact their trip," says Migliaccio. "My priority is making sure my clients travel experience stays smooth, even when the skies aren’t."
Snyder says his team is also trying to stay ahead of the situation and helping customers change flights when the need arises. “We are constantly watching out for airline travel waivers that might allow changes in advance of travel even if nothing has gone wrong yet,” he says. “When that happens, we notify our clients that they are eligible for a no-cost change if there are alternatives available that might use another hub.”
United has a travel waiver in place to accommodate for Newark's disruptions. Customers booked for travel to or from Newark—but also JFK and LaGuardia—through May 5 can change their itinerary for travel anytime through May 12. United will waive any change fees or fare differences.
At least one other U.S. carrier, JetBlue, has a travel waiver in place that allows passengers on flights to the Northeast to change their travel plans, but that was due to potential thunderstorms in the area. However, the waiver applies to customers traveling to or from Newark through Monday May 5, and flights could be rebooked through Thursday May 8.
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