You may want to rethink your summer travel plans. This is the reason.

Anyone looking for a summer vacation can get caught up in the chaotic web of canceled flights, expensive car rentals, or packed hotels.Expected to reach point B from point A without Expensive headache It may seem impossible.

Take this into account: On Wednesday, 639 flights within, inside, or outside the United States were canceled and 5,837 flights were delayed. FlightAware..

Delta Air Lines alone Trimming about 100 flights A day to “minimize confusion” from the July schedule, we issued an exemption for travelers on July 4th in preparation for the number of passengers “not seen before the pandemic”.

Rent a car-if you can find it-maybe it will cost you years ago. Hotel prices are also rising nationwide. This is the only relaxation.

what happened?

The troubles of your summer trip are (probably) not your fault. In the sky, airline employees, especially pilots, are significantly less than they were before the pandemic. Also, on the road, the price of rental cars has risen by double digits due to the lack of available vehicles.

Add Record high inflation The demand for leisure trips is very high and there are recipes for trouble.

Much of this eddy can be traced back to Covid-19.

It starts with demand. Airlines and hotels are anticipating a record trip this summer as Americans who delayed their trip during the pandemic will return to vacation.

Demand responds to staff shortages. The airline received $ 54 billion in federal support during Covid’s peak to avoid unwilling layoffs, but after offering buyouts and early retirement packages to reduce staff and save money. The number of employees is decreasing.

Problems arise when there is a shortage of personnel. As a result, the operation Will soon fall apart When there are bad weather, understaffed air traffic control centers, or sick staff.

Next is inflation. The consumer price index, the government’s main inflation indicator, estimates that overall fare in May before the pandemic rose 37.8% year-on-year, up 21.7% compared to May 2019. ..

Remember that in the midst of the outbreak, the Federal Reserve has implemented emergency stimuli to prevent financial markets from plunging. Central banks have begun to bring tens of billions of dollars into the market each month by lowering interest rates to near zero and repurchasing corporate bonds.

By doing so, banks probably prevented the financial crisis.But it is also possible to maintain these simple monetary policies Fuel inflationThat’s why your ticket is so much more expensive than it used to be.

Car rental also has a pandemic problem. During the pandemic, the industry sold over 500,000 cars just to generate the cash needed to survive the crisis. This is about one-third of the total vehicles. After a year of serious losses, car rental companies struggled to rebuild their fleet to meet demand. The result is a very high price before the tank is full.

Hotel too.. When I get to my destination, I don’t feel very relieved. Remember the problem of deadlocked travel demand? It crashes into a limited number of places to stay and has some spectacular prices.

According to the average hotel room rates are 23% higher than last year AAA..

What is the Biden administration doing?

Earlier this month, Secretary of Transportation Pete Butigeg urged airline executives in a private conversation to review flight schedules and take other steps to mitigate the effects of summer flight cancellations. Told CNN’s Gregory Wallace..

Butigeg asked the CEO to discuss plans to prevent and respond to the turmoil after the July 4 holiday weekend, sources said.

What do airlines say?

US airlines want you to know what they are trying to do. “We are making every effort to ensure a smooth trip this weekend,” Airlines for America, a group of major US airlines, told CNN in a statement Thursday.

“US airlines are tackling a variety of challenges, including weather, airline and federal staffing, and are always making every effort to ensure a smooth trip this weekend and throughout the year. We are working closely together, as the federal government will coordinate schedules to address challenges such as bad weather so that airlines can reach travelers as soon as possible. I will do it. ”

Members of the group’s airlines are taking various approaches to reduce summer flight interruptions, including reducing flights and allowing passengers to rebook at no off-peak charges.

Still, critics say airlines should have I expected many of these problems Prior to the summer travel season.

How long will this last?

read This work By aviation journalist John Walton.

He writes: In almost all cases, the problem was that too many experienced people were dismissed or voluntarily dismissed during the pandemic, and that airlines, airports, and other important parts of the aviation system were hired. Not enough people to replace them.

That qualification point is important. We are familiar with airlines and airports, so we need the entire process to get someone a security pass that allows us to work at the gates of planes and airports.

In other words, traveling will be difficult for some time.

How can you prepare?

If you have a summer travel plan, you are not destined. CNN’s travel team has come together Practical tips If it involves flying, it will help you reach your destination.

The sooner the better. Flying flights departing early in the day can help you avoid the chain of delays and cancellations. Bad weather is also more likely to affect later flights.

Leave a cushion time for an event you can’t miss. Do not travel on the day of an important event such as a wedding. Plan to arrive at least one day early.

If your flight is canceled, please ask for your hotel voucher. If you can’t fly on the same day, it’s worth asking for a meal or a hotel voucher. In many cases, such as weather events, airlines do not need to provide them, but it is worth asking.

The most important thing is to stay compassionate.. Don’t let your customer service employees feel dissatisfied. They have not made any operational decisions.

CNN’s Gregory Wallace, Chuck Johnston and Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.

Source: www.cnn.com