Flight delays have passengers frustrated and late

Traveling is no longer a breeze for many people.

“Let’s look up at the board. There is no flight status, so she’s delayed,” Todd Musselman said as he waited for his girlfriend to arrive at the Palm Springs International Airport.

FAA officials furloughed all of the 47,000 agency employees, including nearly 15,000 controllers. Each employee loses one day of work every other week. Less people at work, means more waiting for travelers.

“We were delayed going out of Oregon. We were delayed like three hours,” Terry Clark said.

We talked to an official at LAX who says the FAA Air Traffic Control System for Southern California , which includes Palm Springs, implemented a Traffic Management Program — meaning pilots have to slow down in the air or delay take off from the originating airport. At LAX, the top eight domestic airlines had a total of 14 cancellations and more than 50 late arrivals. Flightview.com says about 30 percent of departures from Palm Springs were late.

“When you have cuts like this, it’s no good. It’s one of the very few jobs I think that should not have one,” Larry Poindexter said.

As of Monday afternoon, the San Diego International Airport had about 50 total delayed arrivals and departures. Travelers seem to accept their lack of control.

“It’s frustrating, yeah. There’s not much we can do about it,” Clark said.

None of the airports could attribute delays 100% to the furloughs, with inclement weather in parts of the country possibly playing a factor.

To check your flight status, go to Flightview.com.