Flight, train cancellations stretch to end of holiday season in U.S.

Travel troubles in the United States continued on Monday as an East Coast storm approaches, leaving nearly 1,500 U.S. flights canceled as of late Sunday, according to the flight-tracker FlightAware, reported Xinhua.

"The last day of the year-end holiday travel rush is unfolding like every day since Christmas Eve for airline passengers: chaotic," said USA Today, while noting that this weekend's cancellations marked "the worst two-day stretch of the holiday travel season."

The cancellations affected passengers on nearly every U.S. airline, with Southwest Airlines calling off nearly 400 Monday flights, or 10 percent of its scheduled flights, and JetBlue 124 flights, or 12 percent of its flights.

Around 2,700 Sunday flights across, into and out of the United States were cancelled by airlines, on top of more than 2,500 Saturday flight cancellations, bringing the total to more than 15,000 canceled flights since Christmas Eve.

"Blame the weekend travel mess on wintry weather in key airline hubs including Chicago and Denver, and, at some airlines, continuing flight crew shortages due to a surge in COVID-19 sick calls as Omicron spreads," said the USA Today report.

"Winter storm warnings stretched from southern New Jersey to northeastern Georgia on Monday as a fast-moving snowstorm threatened to wreak havoc with post-holiday travel by dumping up to a foot of snow in spots," said the weather forecast company AccuWeather.

The storm was bringing heavy snow in part to a rush of frigid air that had sent temperatures plunging from Sunday into Monday across the eastern United States.

In particular, New Yorkers are expecting a wintry mix of snow, minor flooding and freezing temperatures on Monday. Flurries could begin during the Monday morning rush hour with a total accumulation of one to two inches, according to AccuWeather.

SUBWAY LINES SUSPENDED

Three subway lines will remain out of service in New York on Monday, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area, struggles from staffing shortages due to the surge in COVID-19, reported AM New York Metro, a morning free daily newspaper.

It is unknown exactly how many workers are out sick as the MTA continued to withhold information about how badly the massive agency is affected by the spread of the virus, despite repeated requests on the positivity rates of its staff.

New York City Transit, which manages the subways and buses, took the B, Z, and W lines out of service with announcements on Twitter just before the Thursday morning rush, and MTA plans to keep them offline as New Yorkers return to work and school after the winter break.

The three train routes are also served by other lines, and the agency is redirecting crews to ensure continued service on all other lines.