Delta flew an estimated 3.5 million customers this Thanksgiving holiday – a new record – between Monday, Nov. 25 and Sunday, Dec. 1, on 32,730 flights across the globe.
While most of the country experienced fair weather on Thanksgiving Day, customers headed home from the holiday over the weekend amid a challenging winter storm, which brought frozen and mixed precipitation across the northern tier of the U.S.
On Saturday, 34 Delta Connection flights in the Midwest were canceled as a result of weather, while on Sunday approximately 160 flight cancellations were necessary across the Northeast and New England.
Through it all, Delta people were hard at work, assisting the heavy volume of customers.
"Delta people prove yet again that they're the best in class for handling anything that comes their way – even when Mother Nature may have other plans for our customers," said Erik Snell, Delta's S.V.P. — Operations and Customer Center. "As we kick off the holiday season, millions of people continue to trust us with their travel, and as a leader in reliability, we keep exceeding their expectations as we connect more people around the globe than ever before. Congratulations on a great start to the holiday season."
Heading into the holiday, the airline's team of 80,000+ helped reach an operational milestone of 256 cancellation-free days1, besting last year's 251 total number days– an achievement employees reached a month ahead of last year's pace.
1. Based on Delta's internal statistical reporting of all Delta-operated mainline flights scheduled between Jan. 1, 2019, and Dec. 1, 2019.
