Thousands of flights are delayed or cancelled as holiday travel kicks off

Travellers across the country faced the prospect of cancelled or delayed flights Saturday as airlines and airports dealt with a combination of high demand, bad weather and staffing shortages.

As of Saturday night, nearly 650 flights in the United States had been cancelled and more than 5,200 flights within, into or out of the country had been delayed, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.

While the number of problem flights was higher than on a typical travel day, travel demand was also higher. According to the Transportation Security Administration, the number of travelers over the Fourth of July holiday weekend had reached