ORLANDO, Fla. — Hundreds of people remained stranded at the Orlando International Airport.
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Extreme weather in other parts of the country has created a ripple effect of flight cancellations and delays.
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On Monday afternoon, 2,645 flights within, into or out of the United States had been canceled, according to FlightAware, and an additional 4,501 had been delayed.
Some of the delays are the result of the Federal Aviation Administration trying to stagger air traffic, as many flights were canceled earlier in the week due to winter weather.
Have you been inconvenienced by a cancellation or delay within the airline’s control? Go to @USDOT's customer service dashboard for info about services that U.S. airlines provide to passengers and how to file a complaint: https://t.co/3nTXkUOVaC. #travel pic.twitter.com/mwzxMAmaYw
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U.S. airlines canceled more than 12,000 flights from Wednesday through Saturday, which accounts for 14% of their schedules, CNBC reported.
According to the data from FlightAware, Southwest Airlines had more cancellations and delays than any other airline, accounting for 44% of their schedules.
“With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a significant way that is unacceptable,” a Southwest Airlines representative said in a statement. “We’re working with safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us.”
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Some passengers say they’ll be stuck in Orlando at least until Friday. Others returned to the airport after canceled flights hoping to get re-booked only to find even more flights delayed or canceled.
The airport has also run into parking problems similar to those faced over the Thanksgiving holiday. As of Monday afternoon, all terminal garages were at full capacity.
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