Travelers feeling impact of government shutdown with flight cancellations, delays
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The government has been shut down for almost 40 days, and there does not seem to be an end in sight. It is the longest shutdown on record, and millions of Americans are feeling the impact, including air travelers.
There are over one thousand cancelations and six thousand delays nationwide.
The Senate was at work in a rare Saturday session, but Democrats and Republicans did not come together to find a resolution to the shutdown.
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Paul Hepner and his family will be spending the night at LaGuardia Airport after their flight home to Sarasota, Florida was cancelled.
"They said they could get us to Atlanta, and that fell through. In the meantime, I had booked a hotel in Atlanta to stay. It's not been a good day," said Hepner.
Howard Holaday's flight was rebooked for Sunday at 7 a.m.
"There's no guarantee that one's going through so who knows - maybe I'll be relocating to New York. Unintentionally," Holaday said.
The passengers are some of the victims of the government shutdown with airlines cancelling more than a thousand flights for a second straight day under an emergency FAA order to relieve pressure as air traffic controllers and TSA agents work without pay and call out sick.
"We were just actually talking about how we're glad we don't have another one coming up. We're now home and we're done," said Lauren Sullivan.
The work is not done in the U.S. Senate. With no deal yet to end the shutdown, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed a one-year-extension for Obamacare subsidies to avoid skyrocketing premiums.
"We all approve a one-time temporary extension of current ACA premium tax credits and then after we reopen, we'll negotiate," said Schumer.
"The Democratic leader's proposal is a non-starter," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
As frustrations grow among the American people, President Trump on Saturday proposed sending Affordable Care Act government subsidies directly to consumers. This, while the fate of Federal food assistance is still in limbo because of the shutdown.
If the government is not back open next week, flight cancellations are set to ramp up - possibly reaching 20 percent of daily flights as we get closer to Thanksgiving.
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