00:00The number of flights being cancelled every year seems to continually be on the rise.
00:04Airlines and news headlines have often blamed the weather, and no doubt that is at least
00:08partially true. But now the Government Accountability Office says differently.
00:12According to their recent Airline Passenger Protections,
00:14Observations on Flight Delays and Cancellations and DOT's Efforts to Address Them report,
00:19flight cancellations in the last six months of 2021 outpaced 2018 and 2019,
00:25and they say those rates were higher even though there were 14% fewer scheduled flights.
00:29A large part of that, they say, is due to staffing issues,
00:32with some flights being grounded only hours before takeoff,
00:35sometimes due to simply having too few flight attendants.
00:38The report indicates these types of issues sent waves to the entire aviation industry,
00:43causing cancellations or delays with other flights after hundreds or thousands were left stranded.
00:48The report also indicates that the airlines are taking this seriously.
00:51Airlines have been hiring like crazy and have received the go-ahead from
00:54the Department of Transportation to reduce schedules.
00:57And that's particularly important as we head into the summer travel season.
01:00One expert say could see record-setting numbers of people traveling for vacations.
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