Nearly a third of flights at New York’s LaGuardia airport scheduled to take off before 3 p.m. were d

Travelers stand in line at Los Angeles International airport in Los Angeles Monday, April 22, 2013. It was a tough start to the week for many air travelers. Flight delays piled up Monday as thousands of air traffic controllers were forced to take an unpaid day off because of federal budget cuts. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
New York • Flight delays piled up across the country Monday as thousands of air traffic controllers began taking unpaid days off because of federal budget cuts, providing the most visible impact yet of Congress and the White House's failure to agree on a long-term deficit-reduction plan.
The Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground because there weren't enough controllers to monitor busy air corridors. Cascading delays held up flights at some of nation's busiest airports, including New York, Baltimore and Washington. Many operations were more than two hours behind fox rental car lax schedule.
Nearly a third of flights at New York's LaGuardia airport scheduled to take off before 3 p.m. were delayed 15 minutes or more, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Last Monday, just 6 percent fox rental car lax of LaGuardia's flights were delayed.
At airports, Monday is typically one of the busiest days, when many high-paying business travelers depart for a week on the road. The FAA's controller cuts — a 10 percent reduction of its staff — went into effect Sunday. fox rental car lax The full force was not felt until Monday morning.
One thing working in fliers' favor Monday was relatively good weather at most major airports. A few wind gusts in New York, snow in Denver and thunderstorms in Miami added to some delays, but generally there were clear skies and no major storms.
However, the furloughs will continue for months, raising the risk of a turbulent summer travel season. And the lack of controllers could exacerbate weather problems, especially spring and summer thunderstorms.
FAA officials have said they have no choice but to furlough all 47,000 agency employees — including nearly 15,000 controllers — because the agency's budget is dominated by salaries. Each employee will lose one day of work every other week. The FAA has said that planes will have to take off and land less frequently, so as not to overload the remaining controllers on duty.
"There's a lot finger-pointing going on, but the simple truth is that it is Congress's job to fix this," said Rep. Rick Larsen, a Washington Democrat and member of the House aviation panel. "Flight delays are just the latest fox rental car lax example of how the sequester is damaging the economy and hurting families across the country."
"If these disruptions unfold as predicted, business travelers will stay home, severely impacting not only the travel industry but the economy overall," the Global Business Travel Association warned the head of the FAA in a letter Friday.
Deborah Seymour was one of the first fliers to face the headaches. She was supposed fox rental car lax to fly Sunday night from Los Angles to Tucson, Ariz. First her 9:55 p.m. flight was delayed for four hours. Then at 2 a.m., Southwest Airlines canceled it.
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