机组人员中的冬季天气和新冠肺炎病例推动了全国范围内的旅行噩梦进入第六天。
根据FlightAware的数据，自平安夜以来，约有7000个至少在美国停留一站的航班被取消。截至周三下午7点，当天的取消人数已经超过990人，而且还在快速攀升。
阿拉斯加航空公司现在敦促乘客考虑重新安排他们不必要的假期航班。
该航空公司在一份声明中表示:“我们强烈敦促计划在2022年1月2日之前进行非必要旅行的乘客，考虑使用我们的灵活旅行政策将他们的旅行日期推迟。
阿拉斯加在西雅图有一个主要枢纽，受到西雅图恶劣天气和奥米克龙变异病毒激增的双重打击。该航空公司表示，将在周三和周四主动将西雅图的航班削减20%，但天气影响了西北太平洋以外的运营。
西雅图-塔科马国际机场周三成为世界上航班取消最多的机场。在其网站上，该公司表示，“人员问题可能会导致运营进一步延迟。”
该机场周二在推特上写道:“这对受降雪影响的旅行者来说是令人恼火的。“我们很抱歉。坚持住。如有延误/取消，请与您的航空公司保持联系。如果您在重新预订旅行时需要帮助，只有在确认了航班和出发时间后，才能到机场。”
达美航空公司也感受到了天气和奥米克隆的双重打击。
达美航空周二在一份声明中表示:“太平洋西北部、中西部和奥米克龙变种的冬季天气和条件继续阻碍运营。
该航空公司周三取消了129个航班，并延误了600多个航班。达美航空表示，将向受影响的客户提供eCredit优惠券。
里克·鲍默/美联社
2021年12月27日，游客在盐湖城经过盐湖城国际机场。
美国航空公司和旅行者白天的挤压可能缓解的第一个迹象周一，疾病控制和预防中心将感染新冠肺炎的无症状和完全接种疫苗的人的隔离期从10天缩短到5天。
捷蓝航空周三晚间还表示，将主动缩短至1月13日的时间表。该航空公司还预计，未来几周，机组人员案例和取消航班的情况将激增。截至美国东部时间周三晚上7点，该公司已经取消了另外99个航班。
捷蓝航空在一份声明中表示:“虽然新的疾控中心指南应该有助于让机组人员更快地重返工作岗位，我们的日程缩减和其他努力将进一步缓解一天的取消，但我们预计东北地区的COVID病例数量将在未来一两周内继续激增，我们的大多数机组人员都在东北地区。“这意味着在案件数量开始下降之前，很有可能会有更多的取消。”
达美航空是第一家要求疾控中心将隔离期缩短至5天的航空公司，该公司周一表示，已经在努力实施新的指导意见。
但专家警告称，可能需要一段时间才能与多个相关机构一起制定出具体的复工方案。
航空专家亨利·哈特夫特告诉美国广播公司新闻，“航空公司渴望实施这一计划。“但就像我们看到的最初的规则一样，我们开始应用它，然后现实世界的现实，操作世界开始了。”
而国家何时能看到这些混乱的结束也取决于omicron病例的传播。
“与几天前相比，航空公司将能够更好地管理航班取消率，对此我稍微乐观一点，”Harteveldt说，“但我们无法预测他们的许多员工何时会生病，因为这是omicron本身传播方式的函数。”
成千上万的取消再糟糕不过了对航空公司来说。根据运输安全管理局的数据，假期高峰远未结束，从现在到1月3日，估计有1250万人通过美国机场。
“这对每个人来说都是一个没有胜利的局面，”哈特夫特说。“航空公司输了。乘客会输。”
Bad weather, COVID cases fuel 6th day of mass flight cancellations
Winter weather and COVID-19 cases among flight crews havepushed the nationwide travel nightmareinto its sixth day.
About 7,000 flights with at least one stop in the U.S. have been canceled since Christmas Eve, according to FlightAware. As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, cancellations for the day were already at more than 990 -- and creeping up fast.
Alaska Airlines is now urging passengers to consider rescheduling their nonessential holiday flights.
"We strongly urge flyers with non-essential travel scheduled before January 2, 2022, to consider changing their travel to a later date using our flexible travel policy," the airline said in a statement.
Alaska, which has a major hub in Seattle, has been slammed by both bad weather in Seattle and the omicron variant surge. The airline says it is proactively cutting Seattle departures by 20% for Wednesday and Thursday but that the weather is affecting operations beyond the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle-Tacoma International took the No. 1 spot on Wednesday for the airport with the most flight cancellations in the world. On its website it says, "staffing issues may bring further delays in operations."
"This has been exasperating for travelers impacted by snow," the airport tweeted on Tuesday. "We’re sorry. Hang in there. Stay in touch with your airline on delays/cancellations. If you need assistance rebooking your travel, only come to the airport if you have a confirmed flight and departure time."
Delta Air Lines is also feeling the one-two punch of the weather and omicron.
"Winter weather and conditions in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and the omicron variant are continuing to hamper operations," Delta said in a statement Tuesday.
The airline canceled 129 flights Wednesday and delayed more than 600 others. Delta says it will be offering eCredit vouchers to affected customers.
U.S. airlines and travelers got theirfirst sign of possible relief from the dayslong crushof canceled flights on Monday when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened the isolation period for asymptomatic and fully vaccinated individuals who contract COVID-19 from 10 days to five.
JetBlue also said late Wednesday it was proactively reducing its schedule through Jan. 13. The airline also expects crew cases and cancellations will surge in the coming weeks. It had canceled another 99 flights on Wednesday through 7 p.m. ET.
"While the new CDC guidelines should help get crewmembers back to work sooner, and our schedule reduction and other efforts will further ease day-of cancellations, we expect the number of COVID cases in the northeast -- where most of our crewmembers are based -- to continue to surge for the next week or two," JetBlue said in a statement. "This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down."
Delta, which was the first airline to ask the CDC to shorten the isolation period to five days, said on Monday that it was already working to implement the new guidance.
But experts warned it may take some time to figure out the specific return-to-work protocols with the multiple agencies involved.
"The airlines are eager to implement this," aviation expert Henry Harteveldt told ABC News. "But as with everything we see the initial ruling, we start to apply it and then the reality of the real world, the operating world sets in."
And when the nation will sees an end to these disruptions is also dependent on the spread of omicron cases.
"I'm a little more optimistic that airlines will be able to better manage the rate of cancellations that they have compared to a few days ago," Harteveldt said, "but we can't predict the end of when a lot of their employees will be getting sick because it's a function of how omicron itself is spreading."
The thousands of cancellationscouldn't have come at a worse timefor the airlines. The holiday rush is far from over with 12.5 million people estimated to pass through U.S. airports from now until Jan. 3, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
"This is a no win situation for everyone," Harteveldt said. "Airlines lose. And passengers lose."
