Las Vegas air travelers face dozens more flight cancellations Monday

At least 40 flights to and from Harry Reid International Airport were canceled Monday, continuing the woes for some Las Vegas air travelers.

The online flight tracking website FlightAware said 20 flights leaving Las Vegas were canceled Monday, and 11 more were delayed.

Another 20 flights destined for Las Vegas were canceled, and six were delayed. The canceled flights represent about 3 percent of all flights coming to and from Las Vegas on Monday.

Nationwide, FlightAware said there were 3,002 cancellations and 5,468 delayed flights Monday.

The Associated Press reported that the problems with the aviation industry are attributable largely to the surge in the omicron variant of COVID-19 and bad weather. The nation has now endured two weeks of more than 1,000 cancellations daily.

Hometown carrier Allegiant Air had the most canceled flights out of Reid on Monday with 12, followed by the airport’s busiest carrier, Southwest Airlines, with nine nixed flights, according to FlightAware.

Despite the continued cancellations, Southwest said it is beginning to see improvement. The airline said it canceled the Monday Las Vegas flights over the weekend to give customers time to rearrange travel plans.

“We’re seeing steady improvement in our operation on Monday as we continue recovering from staffing challenges and severe winter weather that affected several of our largest bases of operations during past week and over the weekend,” Southwest said in a statement. “We appreciate the patience and support from our customers as we work diligently, and safely, to get them to their destinations as promised.”

The airline recommends those flying on Southwest sign up for flight updates on their website.

Allegiant Air spokeswoman Hilarie Grey confirmed the ultra-low fare carrier experienced some delays Monday tied to weather and omicron-related staffing issues. But she noted there’s optimism operations could be smoother in the near term.

“We are hopeful that we have seen the worst of it and that the impact of omicron will taper off soon,” Grey said.

Representatives of Harry Reid could not immediately be reached for comment Monday morning. Late last week, however, airport spokeswoman Christine Crews said travelers should be tracking the status of their flights before arriving at the airport.

“You would rather deal with customer service by phone, over the internet or from your hotel room versus standing in line at the airport,” Crews said. “Your airline will have the most up to date information.”

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter. Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.