The government shutdown could end as soon as this week after the Senate voted to advance a temporary deal, but travelers with flights scheduled in the coming days should still brace for cancellations and delays.
“I would expect really bumpy operations and pretty brutal travel experiences, at least throughout the week,” said Tiffany Funk, co-founder and president of point.me, which specializes in points-based travel. “Even if funding were magically restored today, this is going to take a long time to reset.”
Here’s what hopeful travelers should know.
Thousands of flights have been disrupted since the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to reduce operations at 40 U.S. airports to combat air traffic controller staffing shortages.
Cuts were supposed to begin at 4% starting Nov. 4 and gradually slide up to 10% by Nov. 14, but some airports have already seen well more than that since the cuts began.
