PDX traveler: ‘3 hours early for flight that may not exist’

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Even though the Senate took the first step to ending the historically-long government shutdown, the intentional slowdown of flights across the United States has travelers scrambling to keep up with both the news and their changing schedules.

People flying out of PDX, like Portland resident Eecole Copen, are trying to stay on top of whether their flight is delayed or canceled.

“I don’t know if I can get to my rental car. I don’t know right now,” Copen told KOIN 6 News Sunday night. “We might need to extend our trip a day or not. Like, it shortens our vacation by a day” that she was spending with her 80-year-old father.

“I don’t even know if the flight that they tell me I’m on is actually real because I keep getting texts from one platform that say I should be in Atlanta right now, and another platform that says ‘Your notification to board is coming up soon.’ I’m three hours early to a flight that I don’t even know if it exists.”

As of 9:30 p.m., FlyPDX reported 21 delayed flights with another 11 cancellations since noon Sunday.

FlyPDX arrivals and departures information

Many passengers are flying out of Portland on time, but getting into PDX was difficult.

Washington DC resident Christoph Jenkins told KOIN 6 News he “had an issue in Oakland trying to get to Portland. I got on the app just to check in and all of a sudden my flight was canceled and changed to a 5:20 a.m. flight. So I have been awake for the past 48 hours.”

Alaska Airlines — latest statement
United Airlines — latest statement and information

FlightAware delays and cancellations

Right now, many people are showing up hours early to the airport, not knowing if or when their flight will take off.

“I was hoping that it would not change. And I still hope it won’t change if it does,” Jenkins said.

The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday has many people worried about family making it here on time or if they’ll be able to fly out and get to their family gatherings far away.

“I would stay home because there’s no predictability in this experience,” Copen said. “I don’t even know if I’m going to get on a plane when I get to the gate right now.”

Air traffic in the U.S. could “slow to a trickle” if the federal government shutdown lingers into the busy Thanksgiving travel holiday season, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Sunday.

Duffy has said additional flight cuts — perhaps up to 20% — might be needed, particularly after controllers receive no pay for a second straight pay period.

“More controllers aren’t coming to work day by day, the further they go without a paycheck,” Duffy told “Fox News Sunday.”

With “very few” controllers working, “you’ll have a few flights taking off and landing” and thousands of cancellations, he said.

“You’re going to have massive disruption. I think a lot of angry Americans. I think we have to be honest about where this is going. It doesn’t get better,” Duffy said. “It gets worse until these air traffic controllers are going to be paid.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report