In the past week alone, airlines canceled nearly 8,000 flights, according to flight tracker FlightAware, a mess that emboldened critics of the Biden administration. The number of flights canceled since Saturday exceeds the total for all of March, according to DOT data.

On Monday, as his company faced mounting cancellations far worse than other airlines at its hub in Newark, N.J., United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told employees in a memo that “the FAA frankly failed us this weekend.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also weighed in, saying he will use his perch as the top Senate Republican on the committee overseeing airlines to change how the agency staffs its air traffic controllers.

“Staffing at FAA’s air traffic facilities in NY is at 54 percent,” Cruz tweeted. “Yet DOT is blaming weather for delays. Nonsense.”

[Once again, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has failed to prepare for a perfectly predictable holiday traffic peak. He’s a disaster in this position. But you better believe that progressives still see him as the future of the Democrat Party. — Ed]