Don't blame me if everybody wants to come here...

 If there are lightning strikes within five miles of any Florida airport, flights are not permitted to land or take off... 

 

The rash of flight cancellations and delays nationwide have been exacerbated by the difficulties of flying to and from Florida. About a third of all flights from every major airline cross Florida airspace but pilots are at the mercy of elements beyond their control — from volatile weather to air traffic that is routinely crowded with military jets and rocket launches — airline officials say.

Staffing shortages — at airports and airlines — have also hampered the industry following the lifting of pandemic-related lockdown measures. All together, it creates a perfect storm of travel chaos that has left fliers frustrated.

“It’s been a cluster-fuc and a half,” Andrew Levy, the CEO of startup Avelo Airlines, told The Wall Street Journal. Levy described the difficulty of expanding into Florida, where delays have at times forced pilots to wait hours on the ground before they are able to take off. “It’s created enormous problems for us.”

Florida is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the country, but its airports appear to be having difficulty handling the volume of incoming passengers.

 

Federal data released in June showed the Sunshine State’s four major airports — Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, and Miami — were in the top five for worst on-time flight arrivals. Only Newark Airport in New Jersey, which ranked first in lowest percentage of on-time arrivals, beat out the Florida hubs.

Orlando, which had the second-worst percentage of on-time arrivals, saw more than 1,200 incoming flights canceled from the beginning of this year through June 14, according to federal data. In all of 2019, there were just a little over 560 cancellations.

I'm flying Orlando to Newark next month. What kinda Vegas line can I get for any kind of o-time performance on that trip?

 

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