Thousands of Americans will be forced to spend the holidays alone after airlines cancel nearly 500 flights and delay another 750 on Christmas Eve because of crew shortages due to Omicron surge

• Domestic travelers are facing a nightmare this holiday season as airlines on Friday cancelled nearly 500 flights and delayed more than 700
• Short staffing due to COVID-19 has led United Airlines to cancel at least 169 flights for Friday, while Atlanta-based Delta said it has canceled about 128
• Passengers have lashed out on social media, with some saying they have been stuck on planes for hours, and others forced to drive up to 12 hours to be with their families in time for Christmas
• Photos of airports across the country show the chaos at understaffed airports where hundreds of people wait for hours in order to catch their flights

Thousands of Americans will be forced to spend Christmas alone after airlines canceled nearly 500 flights and delayed more than 750 on Christmas eve due to staffing shortages caused by surge in Omicron infections.

Short staffing due to the breakthrough infections has led United Airlines to cancel at least 176 flights for Friday, while Atlanta-based Delta said it has canceled 147 and Alaska Airlines said it had canceled 11, and JetBlue 71. More flight cancelations are expected during the day.

United and Delta said they were working to contact passengers so they would not be stranded at airports and in a statement United made it clear COVID is responsible for the cancellations.