Flying has been an absolute mess this summer and it may get worse before it gets better Summary List Placement Flying is back, and with a vengeance. US airlines have practically been begging the public to get back in the skies during the pandemic. They''re finally getting their wish this summer thanks to the vaccine rollout and near-flattening of the domestic COVID-19 curve. But many travelers looking to get away from it all are finding the travel experience to be anything but easy. The summer of vaccinated travel was kicked off by hundreds of flight delays and cancellations that are still continuing. American Airlines in June saw nearly 400 flights canceled thanks to staffing shortages that set the tone for summer, forcing the airline to scale back on its summer flying schedule . Southwest similarly canceled hundreds of flights in June, which it blamed on bad weather. Now, the airline is saying operational issues also impacted its performance. "While the rapid ramp up in June travel demand provided stability to our financial position, it has impacted our operations following a prolonged period of depressed demand due to the pandemic," Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines'' chief executive officer, said in a second-quarter earnings statemen t. "Therefore, we are intensely focused on improving our operations as we restore our network to meet demand." Airline woes can largely be attributed to decisions made in the worst days of the pandemic when they found themselves with too many people and planes in light of severely reduced demand.