Northwest Airlines is experiencing some serious problems with canceled flights. What is the reason? Is it the weather? Martians? Roving gangs of flying zebras? Nope. They have a pilot shortage. This could probably be solved by hiring more pilots, but well, who are we to judge?

From USAToday:

Northwest spokesman Roman Blahoski said Monday that the carrier completed 96% of its flights over the weekend and expected to complete 97.2% of Monday’s schedule.

That is much improved from the corresponding days in June, but still short of the industry’s usual 98% target.

Those numbers also were worse than rival network airlines’ performances, according to data from FlightStats.com.

On Sunday, Northwest canceled 76 flights, or 5.6% of those tracked by FlightStats.com. In comparison, American canceled six flights, or 0.3% of those tracked; United, 33, or 1.9%; and Delta, four, or 0.2%. All offer more daily flights than Northwest.

Consumers who do not enjoy having their flights canceled for no real reason should avoid booking with Northwest until they get this sorted out.

Coming up short on pilots, Northwest cancels flights [USAToday]
(Photo:FlyGuy92586)

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