11 12 25 ABC Transportation Reporter Sam Sweeney government shutdown flight delays

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ginagonda, con Colorado's Morning News.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Lawmakers taking the steps.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
To end the nation's longest government shutdown, but hundreds of
flights continue to be canceled across the country.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
If this doesn't open, you might have airlines that say
we're going to ground our planes.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
We're not gonna fly anymore. That's how serious this is.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
A Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy adds that once the government reopens,
air traffic controllers who have missed their paychecks will receive
them quickly. Joining us on the KWA Common Spirit Health
hot Line from the ABC Transportation Unit, It's Sam Sweeney.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Sam, appreciate your time. As always.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
What are we seeing right now when it comes to
the six percent flight reduction cuts that the FA was expecting,
are we at that point and are we still expecting
to ramp up to ten percent by Friday?

Speaker 3 (00:44):
We are at that point and we will be at
ten percent by Friday. Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, says,
this is going to be based on the data, and
until the system is fully up operational and all of
the controllers have returned to work, they're going to keep
this in play. Now. Once the government does reopen and
they evaluate the system and people are back to work. Hopefully,

(01:06):
It'll still take several days before the system can be
fully back to normal, and it's unclear when the GOOT
will lift that ten percent cut because remember, even on
a good day before this shutdown, we were short air
traffic controllers and there were problems. So they are going
to look at the data and once they feel comfortable
that all of these controllers can handle that amount of traffic,

(01:28):
then they will reopen it. It'll still take airline days
to recover from all of this.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Obviously, it's been a frustrating situation for both air traffic
controllers and passengers. I even canceled a flight over the
weekend just out of precaution.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
I was like, don't want to.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Get stuck somewhere and not be here in Denver. So
remind listeners what flyers are usually entitled to or are
they entitled to anything different now if these cancelations continue
from the government shutdown.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
So when the government cancels a flight or mandates an
airline canceled flight, it's not the airline fault, obvious, so
they're not required to, you know, pay you for your
meals or your hotel that's on you. But what the
good news is is during this sort of thing is
that the airlines are generally telling people their flights are
canceled a day or two in advance, so you can
make some you know, plans if you will. They're also

(02:17):
able to reaccommodate most passengers on another departure within four hours.
That's been the case for most people who have been
on the pre planned cancelations, not a whether cancelations or
a mechanical cancelation. But again, if the airline does cancel
your flight, you are entitled to a full refine, a
full cash refine if you choose not to fly. But

(02:37):
for someone like you said, oh look, I'm just not
comfortable with this, I want to cancel my reservation. In
most cases like that, you will only be entitled to
a flight credit that you have, you know, a year
or two to use.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
That is definitely the situation I was in, and I
fly a lot, so I was like, fine, I'll take
it right now.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
DA is eighty seven.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Cancelations, which pretty much is where we've been for much
of this week. We heard Sean Duffy there a minute
ago talking about just grounding planes altogether. What's the likelihood
that we could see that happen.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Sam, If the government doesn't reopen, if the House comes
back and says, look, we don't have the votes, we're
not going to open, you're going to see major problems
this weekend. Hopefully that is not the case. But if
these you know, these controllers are returning. One the president
said get back to work. I made doctor pay and
the people who are coming to work, I'm going to
give you a ten thousand dollars bonus. But also the

(03:29):
other controllers are saying, okay, look there's light at the
end of the tunnel. I'm going to get paid soon.
I'm going back to work. But if something happens, you know, unexpected,
and the government doesn't reopen, we could see major problems
this weekend.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
From the ABC Transportation Unit, it's Sam Sweeney.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Sam, appreciate your time. As always, thank you,