{"id":27430,"date":"2025-11-07T05:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T05:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/27430\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T05:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T05:38:10","slug":"travelers-make-backup-plans-as-flight-cancellations-begin-at-philadelphia-international-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/27430\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelers make backup plans as flight cancellations begin at Philadelphia International Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some flights out of Philadelphia International Airport<\/a> are canceled Friday as the Federal Aviation Administration begins reducing flight schedules to ease pressure on unpaid air traffic controllers during the ongoing government shutdown.<\/p>\n

The FAA said about 10% of flights will be cut at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports<\/a>, a measure that will roll out over the next week \u2014 just three weeks before one of the busiest travel periods of the year.<\/p>\n

For some travelers on Thursday, the disruptions had already begun.<\/p>\n

“I’ve literally been here for four hours, and I mean, it’s a dumpster fire,” said Lucas Pepke, who was forced to cut his work trip short after his Friday afternoon flight from Philadelphia was unexpectedly canceled.<\/p>\n

Larry and Joanne Lamania of Maple Glen said they managed to catch an earlier flight but are worried about their return home.<\/p>\n

“It seems like more cutbacks are happening tomorrow, so we’re happy we’re one day ahead of the game,” Larry Lamania said.<\/p>\n

Joanne Lamania added that the couple even reserved a rental car in case their return flight from Las Vegas is canceled.<\/p>\n

“On our way back, we decided we would preempt and order a car in case we have to drive back from Vegas,” she said. “We put a car on hold, just in case.”<\/p>\n

Aviation attorney Mark Dombroff recommends travelers with critical travel plans consider booking a backup flight, but only under certain conditions.<\/p>\n

“If you absolutely, positively have to be there or want to be there, get some backup, absolutely,” Dombroff said. He advised that backup flights should be booked on a different airline and depart after the original flight, to avoid conflicts if one is canceled.<\/p>\n

“Most of the airlines allow you to cancel a reservation within 24 hours with no penalty,” he added. “Or if you’re using mileage and perhaps even dollars, you can re-bank the miles or bank the dollars for the future flight.”<\/p>\n

While some passengers are making contingency plans, others say their frustration lies with Congress for allowing the shutdown to continue.<\/p>\n

“It’s frustrating when the people we elect to compromise and work things out are unable to do so,” said Nathan Averbeck of Chicago. “It’s a bit embarrassing for us as a country, really.”<\/p>\n

“I just hope they will do something,” said Ayotola Oronti of Philadelphia. “What’s wrong with them \u2014 with all of them? I hope they get something done.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the airport said travelers should contact their airline and register for text and email alerts to receive the latest flight status information.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The FAA said the flight reductions are temporary but necessary to maintain safety and prevent burnout among air traffic controllers<\/a>, who have been working without pay since the shutdown began.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some flights out of Philadelphia International Airport are canceled Friday as the Federal Aviation Administration begins reducing flight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12941,7524,1014,69,71,1013,70],"class_list":["post-27430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-air-traffic-controllers","tag-federal-aviation-administration","tag-government-shutdown","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-international-airport","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}