Many U.S. airlines are promising reliability for the upcoming summer travel season.
Travel in 2022 so far has come close to pre-pandemic levels, and the summer season is expected to follow suit.
“I’m pretty positive and I’m looking forward to summer travel,” Traveler Kristy Dozier said.
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While some travelers are optimistic others are already being impacted by the cancellations that has plagued airlines for much of the year.
“We’ve just had a flight cancelled today and like we were talking about earlier we are trying to make it back to Canada to make a very important connection to go to Maui and our flight was cancelled this morning and we weren’t able to get rescheduled for today, so we’ve been scrambling since then to get on to another airline to get back to Canada, so we understand the frustration,” Mitch Boulet said.
JetBlue Airlines said earlier this month that it would trim summer flying by as much as 10%.
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American Airlines is working to avoid hurdles during peak travel season in 2022 and said they began preparation for the summer 2022 travel season in 2021.
“We have hired thousands of new team members across the operation, including pilots, flight attendants and airport team members. In fact, we have already welcomed more than 600 new pilots this year, exceeding our goal,” an American Airlines representative said in a statement to NBC 7.
A new twist as the peak travel season heats up a U.S. Federal Judge in Florida ruled that the CDC overstepped its authority when it issued a mask mandate for planes and other forms of public transportation.
“For myself personally I’d probably still wear a mask in places like airports and in heavily trafficked places just for the sake of trying to keep myself healthy and everyone else healthy,” traveler Karissa Frealy said.
The White House said the TSA would no longer enforce the mask mandate on planes and public transit after the court ruling.
The White House is reviewing the court's ruling and the U.S. Justice Department will decide whether it will appeal, according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
