It was a frustrating holiday weekend for tens of thousands of travelers, starting with NJ Transit rail service shutting down abruptly Friday evening after officials said a locomotive engineers union urged members to call out sick in protest over pay for working on Juneteenth. This caused hundreds of trains to be canceled through the weekend, leaving commuters stranded and scrambling at Penn Station. A federal judge on Sunday issued an emergency order on behalf of NJ Transit, barring Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union members from participating in another work stoppage or face discipline, including fines and jail.
Airline passengers didn’t have any better luck. More than 5,000 domestic flights were canceled over the weekend and thousands more were delayed. A recent surge in demand for travel comes as airlines struggle with staffing shortages — of pilots in particular — and the ripple effects of bad weather.
