Travel chaos looms for July 4th weekend: Hundreds of flights are canceled out of NYC due to storms

Tuesday is shaping up to be another frustrating day for travelers as continued storms in New York and other east coast cities mean another wave of delays and cancelations.

On Monday, more than 40 percent of flights out of LaGuardia and Newark airports were canceled, some after being delayed for hours. Nearly 20 percent of United Airlines' flights were canceled, while more than 50 percent of JetBlue's were delayed.

In total there were nearly 9,000 US delays on Monday, a number that may be rivaled by Tuesday's schedule. By early Tuesday morning, there were already 1,200 recorded flight delays across the US and more than 800 cancelations. 

More than 300 United Airlines flights have been canceled and that number is climbing. The airline's CEO Scott Kirby blamed the Federal Aviation Administration, telling staff in a letter that the 'FAA frankly failed us this weekend.'

Inclement weather conditions coupled with technical failures left thousands of travelers stranded across the east coast and in the Midwest over the weekend and leading into the week. Storms are expected to continue in the northeast for the next several days

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby addressed his company after weather and technical failures hit the major carrier especially hard over the weekend. United has canceled nearly 1,000 flights between Monday and Tuesday of this week - in addition to hundreds over the weekend

US airports are attempting to return to normal operations after storms and some technological issues severely impacted flight schedules in the Midwest and on the east coast.  

Hundreds of flights scheduled to fly into New York area airports on Monday were also canceled as JFK and LaGuardia closed their runways for hours and instructed arriving flights not to depart from their origins.

Despite no apparent rain in the New York area Monday evening, strong storms delivered intermittent rain, thunder and lightning to some parts of the Northeast.

In his letter to staff, United's Kirby estimated that some 150,000 customers alone were impacted over the weekend by delays and cancelations, which he blamed primarily on the FAA.

He said that the delays and cancelations out of east coast hubs were due to 'FAA staffing shortages and their ability to manage traffic.'

The FAA had also previously warned passengers that summer travel in the New York area may be difficult due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.

A weather channel forecast map from Tuesday shows that storms are expected to continue in the northeast through the next few days

Travelers remain stranded at the Newark Airport in New Jersey on Tuesday June 27

One third of flights out of LaGuardia were canceled Tuesday, after facing mass delays and cancelations Monday as well

Newark, a United hub, saw nearly 300 outbound flights canceled on Monday alone

Some travelers were told Monday that they may not be able to get on flights until Thursday

The high concentration of flight issues may bleed over into the forthcoming holiday weekend

A note from United CEO Scott Kirby to staff on Monday about the delays and cancelations that impacted an estimated 150,000 United customers over the weekend. He primarily blamed the FAA

More than 40 percent of inbound and outbound LaGuardia flights were canceled Monday, stranding thousands of travelers

Passengers who remain stranded expressed their frustrations after waiting many hours as flights were delayed multiple times before finally being canceled.

Maryann McGinniss told ABC7: 'They were sending us notices it's delayed, it's delayed, it's delayed...now it's canceled. Next flight out? Thursday.'

Some passengers were taxied around the airport for more than two hours before being instructed to deplane from their canceled flights. 

Others were told there was no realistic scenario in which they were getting their luggage back following cancelations, due to the incredibly high number of people lining up to wait for their possessions to be deboarded.  

Aviation Analyst Henry Harteveldt said the issues for passengers are likely to stretch into the upcoming July 4 holiday weekend. 

'In addition to the bad weather problems, we're in the peak of the vacation season and we're approaching July 4, so all these flights are booked close to or are completely full, so there's very little slack in terms of empty seats to accommodate people,' he told the outlet.