(WXYZ) — The Fourth of July saw a surge of passengers at airports across the country, and with that came thousands of flights that were canceled or delayed – similar to what happened over Memorial Day weekend.
Tuesday is expected to be another busy day of travel as people head home by car and plane.
It was a record-breaking travel weekend. On Friday, TSA said they screened more than 2 million passengers, numbers not seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic, but some flights just weren't taking off.
"My flight got canceled and I didn't find out until I got to the gate," one passenger told us.
Aurora Dominguez won teacher of the year and a scholarship she's been waiting two years for.
"I am missing my opening reception because of all this situation," she said.
Over the weekend, there were over 9,000 delays and nearly 1,000 flights canceled. Some of the main contributions are pandemic-related staffing shortages and severe weather across the country.
But, regardless of travel frustrations, Americans are eager to fly, but they should pack their patience.
"This problem is not going to go away this summer. it's not going to go away this year. I doubt it gets much better before the end of 2023," Harvey Harteveldt, a travel analyst said.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is reminding air passengers they're entitled to prompt cash refunds for their canceled flights.
