Airlines got $50 billion in pandemic relief — but are still screwing Americans

If you’ve flown recently, or attempted to, it might have gone something like this: Your 1 p.m. flight became a 5 p.m. flight became a midnight flight before being summarily canceled. No explanation is given. The next flights out are already fully booked, but they have a middle seat with two stopovers leaving next week if that still works for you.

We’ve put up with so much from airlines. Food on airplanes is now limited to crackers and a shot glass of soda. We pay exorbitant amounts to check baggage. Only some people get to bring a carry-on bag on the plane. We pay to choose our seat. A seat, by the way, that is designed for someone who is 4’8” and 95 pounds. They’ve tortured us in a variety of ways.

We dealt with it because they got us from point A to point B swiftly and safely. Sometimes it was even cheaply. We accepted the continued downgrading of service because they had something we wanted that only they could deliver. But airlines are not keeping up their end of the bargain. We’re missing meetings, events, family time and more because they just can’t get their act together.

According to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight cancellations and delays, there were 1,629 delays and 631 cancellations “within, into, or out of the United States” just Sunday. This was only by noon. Cancellations and delays become more likely as the day progresses.

Why are these frequent delays happening? Airlines cite post-pandemic demand being high. That’s probably true, but people are excitedly booking seats on fligh

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