Air travel impacted from Canadian wildfire smoke

ROMULUS, Mich. (FOX 2) - We could barely see the air traffic control tower at Detroit Metro Airport due to the smog caused by the distant Canadian wildfires.

And that means more concern for air travelers getting into and out of town.

"Hearing the flight is on time. I hope it stays that way," said Christina Walker.

"I was watching my flight. Just worried if this was going to impact the flight but it looks like it has been flying on time," said a man. "I don’t think it has impacted flights."

While Detroit-Metro officials can’t say definitively that the smoke is causing issues the website Flight Aware has documented some delays and cancelations and many more elsewhere around the country.

In the last day there’s been 6,000 delayed flights and more than 1,800 cancelations.

There’s other culprits being blamed in the days before the 4th of July holiday.

The FAA says it’s a weather problem but the head of United Airlines is blaming the FAA for ongoing air traffic control staffing shortages.

Travel experts say there are some things you can do about it but not alot.

"You are entitled to a refund," said Summer Hull, director at The Points Guy. "Not just credit toward a future flight but if you don’t want to take your flight anymore or if your flight was canceled, you can get an actual refund."