New York CNN —Hundreds of thousands of US airline customers were stranded this week as severe weather grounded planes and led to canceled flights. As of 8:30 am ET, FlightAware tracking service reported there were 687 flights canceled and another 1,200 delays. Although that’s better than the 2,200 canceled flights in each of the last two days, or the more than 16,000 delayed flights between Monday and Tuesday, it’s hardly a smooth-running operation. Staffing shortageThe US air travel system is unable to recover quickly from widespread weather problems, because it doesn’t have the bodies to deal with the disruptions. The airline canceled 461 flights this past Saturday and Sunday and delayed another 1,972 flights, according to data from flight tracking site FlightAware.

---

Persons: that’s, it’s, Ed Bastian, ”, Scott Kirby, Kirby, ” Kirby, United, “, Paul Thacker, ” Thacker, “ ”, ” Michelle Maciel, Pete Muntean, Gregory Wallace Organizations: New, New York CNN, Federal Aviation, Airport, Transportation, Administration, FAA, Newark Airport, United, United Airlines, CNN, Newark Liberty International Airport, Association of Flight, DC, Greyhound Locations: New York, Boston, New York City, Madrid, United’s, Newark, Toronto, Denver, Portland Oregon