I was recently booked on a flight that was canceled. I spent an extra night in that city. The cancellation was last-minute, which upset the passengers (me included) because it could have been communicated earlier to allow passengers to pursue alternatives. Instead, we spent the next two hours rebooking and trying to figure out where we’d spend the night. As I watched this, I got the impression that the airline had more flights booked than it could fulfill and was operationally overwhelmed. I’ve since read several articles about how this problem has gotten worse across various airlines this summer. Customers are upset and employees are frustrated.

I have zero airline experience, but it appears that airlines are at a critical juncture. If they don’t get their operations under control, they risk losing customers and employees. It’s hard to operate a business without revenue from customers and people to do the work.

I’m not sure how airlines resolve this, but I’ll be curious to see how it pans out. And I look forward to the day when flights are running on time again.