SAN DIEGO (CNS) - American Airlines canceled or delayed six local flights Sunday due to weather and staffing issues, officials said.
The San Diego International Airport's flight departure and arrivals website showed three AA arrivals canceled Sunday:
-- A 12:20 p.m. flight from Dallas/Ft.Worth;
-- A 1:11 p.m. flight from Charlotte; and
-- A 4:53 p.m. flight from Phoenix.
A 1:51 p.m. flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth was delayed.
Two departure flights to Phoenix were canceled Sunday, one at 11:04 p.m. and another at 5:53 p.m.
Clarissa Sandoval and her friend had to wait hours at the San Diego airport Sunday after a rescheduled return flight.
"We were just stressing out, figuring out how we're going to get back home," she said.
Sandoval, who's a high school senior, booked a round trip with American Airlines from San Diego to Phoenix, Arizona to tour Grand Canyon University with a group of students.
She said Saturday they learned their return flight to San Deigo had to be rebooked.
"It got moved to Tuesday and we couldn't do Tuesday because of our school and everything so they moved us back on Sunday to a 6 a.m. flight," she said.
"There were a lot of people, very frustrated looking and sounding people in the American Airlines assistance line," Robert Miller said.
Miller booked an American Airlines flight from Virginia to San Diego for a medical conference, with a connecting flight in Dallas, TX. He said he was set to arrive in San Diego Saturday, but his connecting flight was canceled leaving him stranded in Dallas.
"It's just a little frustrating because I had to find a hotel. I had to pay for a night in the hotel. They're not going to give any vouchers for things like this," Miller said.
Miller was able to rebook a flight out of Dallas Sunday night but says he was vexed he missed the first day of the medical conference.
"I know that's part of air travel," Miller said. "This was the first medical conference I've been to since the pandemic, in-person. so I'm a little disappointed."
The airline canceled more than 1,500 flights this weekend across the country -- about 9% of the airline's total, officials said.
"This week saw two days of severe winds in DFW (Dallas Fort-Worth), with gusts of up to 50 mph on Thursday, creating crosswind limitations that sharply reduced arrival capacity by more than half," David Seymour, American's chief operating officer, wrote in a letter to team members on Saturday.
"This weather drove a large number of cancellations at DFW, as we could only use two runways instead of the usual five that handle our operation. With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences. To make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews, we have adjusted our operation for the last few days this month by proactively canceling some flights.
"We are taking this measure to minimize any inconvenience as much as possible. Most of the customers impacted by these changes are being rebooked the same day, and we apologize for having to make these changes.
"... The good news moving forward is that we continue to staff up across our entire operation and we will see more of our team returning in the coming months," the letter continued. "Specifically, for flight attendants we have nearly 1,800 returning from leave starting Nov. 1 -- and the remainder coming back by Dec. 1 -- and will have 600+ new hire flight attendants on property by end of December. Additionally, hiring for our airports is well underway and we anticipate 4,000 new team members joining us across the system in the fourth quarter."
