United extends free ticket changes amid Newark airport delays, cancellations
The New Jersey airport is reeling from staffing shortages and equipment issues.
United Airlines is expanding its travel waivers and letting customers change flights for free as massive flight disruptions, delays and cancellations continue at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, one of the busiest airports in the United States.
The Chicago-based airline, which has a major hub at Newark, announced that passengers with travel plans to or from Newark between May 6 to 23, 2025, are eligible for a "flexibility" waiver that will allow them to reschedule flights without any change fees or fare differences, so long as tickets were purchased on or prior to May 4. Previously, the waiver was available for travel plans up until May 17.
United said free flight changes only apply to new flights in the same cabin that are leaving and arriving within two days before or after the original travel dates and between the original cities of travel, or Philadelphia or New York.
This is the third waiver announcement from United, following an initial waiver that applied to tickets purchased on or before April 29 for trips scheduled between May 1 and 5, and the company's announcement on Tuesday this week.
What's happening at Newark Liberty International Airport
Equipment outages, such as a brief radar blackout at Newark early Friday morning, have been causing a domino effect of delayed, disrupted or cancelled flights at the New Jersey airport in recent days.
United began cutting about 35 daily flights out of Newark on May 3, citing ongoing air traffic control staff shortages and equipment issues as a major reason behind the significant change.
A previous April 28 equipment outage at Philadelphia TRACON, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Airport, caused the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily halt departures to Newark, kicking off a series of flight headaches for travelers. More than 900 flights have been canceled at Newark since the outage.
Newark Airport has also been reeling from air traffic controller staffing shortages, with existing controllers doubling up on work and taking trauma leave, especially after the first major outage.
The FAA is working to bring in air traffic control supervisors from around the country to help ease the problem, though it is unlikely to provide a quick solution to the ongoing problems.
The FAA acknowledged in a previous statement to ABC News that existing technology and systems are "antiquated."
"Our antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce," the FAA said in part. "We are working to ensure the current telecommunications equipment is more reliable in the New York area by establishing a more resilient and redundant configuration with the local exchange carriers. In addition, we are updating our automation system to improve resiliency."
Traian Hernandez, a retired air traffic controller who spent 25 years working the skies around Newark Liberty Airport, previously told ABC News he believes the long-standing staffing issues have bred "unsafe" conditions.
"They had another radar failure and another communications failure last week, for about a minute and a half. ... As a controller, that's an eternity because planes are moving," Hernandez said. "In 90 seconds, you can go from one end of the airspace to the other and you have airplanes pointed at each other and you can't do nothing about it. That is extremely stressful, creates anxiety."
The FAA said air traffic controllers on leave cannot be easily or quickly replaced.
"While we cannot quickly replace them due to this highly specialized profession, we continue to train controllers who will eventually be assigned to this busy airspace," the federal agency said.
For now, Hernandez urged travelers to reconsider flying in and out of Newark.
"Reschedule if you can. I will fly out of [John F. Kennedy International Airport] right now. If I have to fly to New York, that's where I'm flying -- Kennedy, maybe LaGuardia [Airport]. I'm avoiding Newark right now," Hernandez said.
ABC News' Sam Sweeney and Ayesha Ali contributed to this story.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include information about United's latest "flexibility" waiver waiver extension and the May 9 Newark radar outage.
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