‘Serious, dangerous games’: Travelers delayed in Bay Area speak out on FAA flight reductions

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Federal Aviation Administration announced a 10% reduction in air traffic across the country due to a shortage of air traffic controllers going unpaid during the government shutdown. That includes Oakland International Airport and San Francisco International Airport.

These reductions haven’t even started yet, and some people flying to and from Boston told KRON4 that they are already dealing with delays for several hours.

But cancellations are already piling up.

According to FlightAware, more than two dozen flights have already been canceled at SFO for Friday — and things could get worse before the holiday rush.

“I’m hoping to return back home on my flight, but who knows. The federal government needs to do something,” said traveler Gerald Lenoir. “It would be nice to fly when I’m supposed to. My wife is home by herself and she’s disabled, so I’d like to get home.”

“They’re playing serious, dangerous games with people’s lives,” said traveler Diana Divecha who is flying to Minneapolis. “My flight out right now is still on time, but my husband is flying tonight from Boston back to San Francisco and his flight is delayed right now. The uncertainty is hard to deal with.”

A lack of air traffic controllers is causing frustrations and uncertainty as looming cancellations of hundreds of flights are scheduled for Friday at the country’s 40 busiest airports.

At San Francisco International Airport, travelers are already dealing with delays.

“Yeah, it just happened,” said traveler Tod Brainard. “I thought my flight was going to get delayed by a half hour, no big deal, so I’d get home at midnight instead of 11:30. But now I’m going to get home in the middle of the night. I didn’t sign up for a red-eye but, thank you government, you’re giving me a red-eye.”

According to FlightAware.com, at least 445 flights have already been canceled nationwide on Friday — more than four times higher than on Thursday.

“I look at my ticket today and I’m now flying back into Seattle when I thought I was flying back into Everett, so it’s interesting in itself that my flights just changed from origin and destination,” said traveler Richard Marx.

SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel says which flights are disrupted will be decided on by each individual airline.