Furious passengers began to lash out at Pete Buttigieg over the Forth of July weekend's travel chaos as 4,500 delayed or canceled flights has left thousands of people stranded.
Angry tweets slammed the Transportation Secretary for not fixing the airline industry as the number of Americans traveling by air for the holiday is expected to reach 25 million, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time in four years.
'Almost 3000 flights were delayed or canceled this weekend.
And this is after he said he would fix the airline industry,' one Twitter user lamented.
But Buttigieg doesn't appear worried with how embattled airlines plans to improve, instead on Sunday morning saying he is 'focused' on making sure the U.S.
airlines stay on track over the holiday as he warned of 'severe weather' causing even more delays and cancellations.
As of Sunday afternoon, there were about 550 flights within, into, or out of the United States that have been canceled already today.
There have been another 4,025 flights delayed so far.
Travel chaos continued for tens of thousands of people over the Forth of July weekend as hundreds of flights were canceled and more than 1,000 have been delayed this morning
ATLANTA: Stranded passengers have reported having to sleep at the airport and stand in line for hours as they tried to rebook their flights, with some saying they were forced to wait several days for their checked bags
The chaos began ahead of the holiday weekend as storms began walloping the northeast and parts of the Midwest, causing mass delays and cancelations into and out of New York area airports.
Stranded passengers have reported having to sleep at the airport and stand in line for hours as they tried to rebook their flights, with some saying they were forced to wait several days for their checked bags.
United Airlines was hit hard by cancelations, and now the company is offering furious passengers 30,000 air miles to try and convince them to stay loyal to the company following a week of cancellation chaos - forcing many to spend nights in airports with many never landing at their final destinations.
'We had a hard two days with severe weather at the beginning of the week and that's put enormous pressure on the system,' Buttigieg told CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan when asked why air travel in the U.S.
is 'so chaotic' recently.
'[Cancellations] really shot up at the beginning of the week, largely because of severe weathering hitting some of our key hubs,' the Transportation secretary explained. 'I think most passengers understand that no one can control the weather.
But anything that's under the control of the airlines - and anything that we can do on the FAA side - we need to continue pushing to make sure it's the smoothest possible experience for airline passengers everywhere.'
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned of more 'severe weather' disruptions to air travel over July 4 holiday following approximately 7,500 cancelations and tens of thousands of delays
The mass debacle also comes about a week after Buttigieg warned of forthcoming travel disruptions due to a July 1 5G service boost that US wireless companies plan to execute.
US planes that are not retrofitted to withstand interference from the new 5G wireless signals may not be permitted to land in low-visibility conditions.
Many who took to social media to rage about their travel experiences this weekend called on Buttigieg to do something.
Bree Hocking reported having three cancelations and being stuck at the Denver Airport with no accommodation.
'It's 4:30am in the Denver airport transportation new york city.
Cleaners are about now. Since Thursday, I've had 3 cancellations. multiple delays. and no accommodation. @united this is unacceptable. do better. @SecretaryPete @nytimes.'
Another tweet from Hocking read: 'Sunrise at the Denver airport.
No such thing as beauty sleep here. Not a wink. Thanks @United for a truly miserable start to the holiday weekend. Compensate and accommodate your passengers. @SecretaryPete @nytimes.