Tuesday’s travel woes from customers attempting to fly United Airlines and facing cancellations continued Wednesday, with 92 United flights cancelled into and out of Denver International Airport out a total 95 flights cancelled at the airport. 

Across the United States, United had cancelled 442 flights and delayed another 887, far more than any of their fellow airlines, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.com. The airline with the next highest number of cancelled or and delayed flights Wednesday was JetBlue with 90 cancelations and 389 delays. 

Wednesday afternoon, United officials told the Denver Gazette their delays and cancelations were due to “severe weather in the Northeast, which has also caused our flight crews to be out of place,” Russell Carlton, a spokesperson for United at DIA, said. 

United’s Airport Operations Team is fully staffed in Denver and working extra hours to get customers to destinations, Carlton said. 

The airline has also increased staffing to restore flight attendant schedules and is offering triple pay to pick up open trips, he said. 

“We know our customers are eager to get to their destinations and our airport and call center teams are working overtime to assist them,” Carlton said. “We are focusing on helping our customers whose travel has been disrupted over the last few days.”

Carlton pointed customers to the United mobile app, in which they can now access personalized re-booking options, bag tracking information and meal and hotel vouchers when eligible, he said. That’s despite the fact many customers have  complained about the app.

“Customers who have had flights canceled are able to receive a refund if they no longer wish to travel,” Carlton said. 

Wednesday’s flight woes came after an equally frustrating Tuesday for travelers, with some 500 United Airlines flights canceled in the U.S. by 5 p.m., the most by any airline, according to FlightAware.

In a message to employees, United CEO Scott Kirby said Tuesday the Federal Aviation Administration “failed us.”

FAA staffing issues in the midst of East Coast weather challenges are at the core of United’s operational issues, Scott said. Over 150,000 customers are estimated to have been impacted last weekend by “FAA staffing issues and their ability to manage traffic.”

FAA spokesperson Emma Duncan said there were no East Coast staffing issues on Monday or Tuesday.

The FAA “will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem,” Duncan added.

Another FAA spokesperson said Wednesday the agency is “taking action to reduce the air traffic controller training backlog that COVID created.”

At the height of the pandemic, the FAA paused training to protect the workforce and keep the airspace “safe and working,” they said. However, they don’t claim to have controller staffing issues, as Kirby claimed in the letter to employees.

“Weather and volume drove nearly all the delay minutes in 2022, not controller staffing issues,” the FAA spokesperson said. 

This year, the FAA will hire 1,500 controllers and next year plans to hire 1,800. 

Brooks Proch and his girlfriend, Danielle Chavira, were supposed to leave from Salt Lake City on vacation when Proch’s United flight was cancelled during his layover at DIA, leaving him among a sea of stranded travelers in Denver. 

Brooks was coming home from a work trip in Ohio and was supposed to board his second flight home to his girlfriend. 

Luckily, Proch and Chavira had plans to vacation to Denver from Salt Lake and Proch had family in the area, otherwise it would have been “much worse” Chavira said. 

“We’re one of the lucky ones dealing with all of this nonsense,” Chavira said. “I just told him to stay there and wait for me since I’m already driving to Denver and fortunately he has family so he’s not terribly stuck.”

From DIA, Proch sent Chavira videos and photos of the chaos inside the airport, including “people in their 70’s sleeping on the ground,” Chavira said.

 “I feel terrible for everyone else,” Chavira said. “I can’t imagine if we were in any other situation this would be a different and terrible story for us.”

The travel woes came after complications with checking in to the flight to begin with, Chavira said, explaining that both she and boyfriend had tried multiple times to check him in for his flight through the United app and not had any luck. 

The couple rarely travels via plane and, after the fiasco this week, never want to again, Chavira said. Proch generally uses United when he has to fly for work and told Chavira over the phone that he never will again.

“We typically drive places, so it’s rare for us to fly,” Chavira said. “When all of this has happened, we’re like ‘we’re never flying again’.”

Don McNeil was in a similar situation, waiting for a stranded family member at DIA to get home after a cancelled United flight. 

McNeil’s 16-year-old daughter got stranded in Denver Tuesday night and McNeil spent a good portion of his day Wednesday trying to locate her bags and get a refund from the airline.

He was able to get his daughter onto a Southwest Airlines flight, but has yet to reach United to get ahold of her bags and get their money back.

“The most frustrating thing is the inability to communicate with @united customer service,” McNeil wrote to the Denver Gazette on Twitter. “To pay that much money to spend several hours on hold is disappointing.”

As the holiday weekend approaches, DIA is forecasting over 550,000 passengers to travel through TSA checkpoints, according to DIA spokesperson Jose Salas. 

“Unfortunately, cancelations and delays can be unexpected and occur for a variety of reasons,” Salas wrote in an email to the Denver Gazette. “We understand these incidents are an inconvenience and can present challenges to passengers. When delays or cancelations occur, it is our role as an airport to support our passengers and help maintain efficient operations through security checkpoints, the airfield and customs.”

In the wake of delays and cancelations into and out of the airport, Salas said the airport’s biggest tip for passengers over the holiday weekend is to check their flight status with their airline in advance.

“It’s always better to see your flight is delayed before heading to DEN,” Salas said.