After a dismal week of weather-related flight cancellations and delays, American air travelers wishing for clear skies on Tuesday may have to wait a little longer — especially if they’re traveling with Southwest Airlines.
As of 2:45 p.m. ET, the flight tracking website Flight Aware reported that little over 3,000 flights inside, into, or out of the US have already been canceled for Tuesday.
Nearly 2,600 of those canceled flights were operated by southwest, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all Southwest flights on Tuesday. In contrast, United Airlines only had 2% of its flights canceled and Alaska Airlines only had 9%.
The airports most hit by the cancellations on Tuesday are Denver International Airport, Chicago Midway International, Baltimore/Washington International, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Dallas Love Field, and Nashville International.
At 2:45 PM ET on Tuesday, there were more than 4,100 delays.
After a full day of post-Christmas travel chaos, 3,989 flights were canceled on Monday, 2,909 of which were operated by Southwest aircraft. Additionally, Southwest’s Christmas problems coincide with a turbulent year for the airline sector. Throughout the summer, a large number of US planes had delays in addition to hundreds of cancellations.
Southwest Airlines: Additional cancellations are likely.
Representatives for Southwest Airlines say the Dallas-based airline intends to scale back its flight schedule in order to get operations back on track, but they issue a warning that the cancellations and delays this week are likely to continue for a number of more days.
Bob Jordan, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, told The Wall Street Journal that his company will operate just over one-third of its scheduled flights in the following days to give employees time to settle in.
According to WSJ.com, Jordan stated that the compressed timeline might be extended.
“Today was difficult for us. Most likely, as we try to get out of this, tomorrow will be another difficult day “Jordan stated in a Monday night interview with WSJ.com.
“This is the biggest event I’ve ever witnessed,” the speaker said.
Southwest Airlines: Difficulties That Multiply
Due to a series of problems, Southwest was particularly heavily struck.
Chicago and Denver, two of its busiest hubs, were hit hard by the storm at a time when the person was already overworked due to Covid and other winter illnesses. Additionally held accountable are Southwest’s ambitious pace and underfunding.
During the Christmas week of flying, the widespread winter storm hit just as travelers were starting to return to pre-pandemic levels.
According to Flight Aware, 3,178 flights were canceled and 6,870 were delayed on Christmas Day.
3,487 flights were canceled on Christmas Eve, according to Flight Aware.
The worst day of this run was Friday with 5,934 cancellations, followed by Thursday with about 2,700 cancellations.
How Can Lost Travelers Obtain Assistance?
People lined up to try to rebook flights or make connections at the Southwest ticket counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday morning.
Massive accumulations of abandoned baggage built up at Chicago’s Midway International as travelers raced to retrieve their belongings. At Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport and Las Vegas’ Harry Reid Airport, such incidents also took place.
Passenger Trisha Jones told CNN at the Atlanta airport that she and her partner had been trying to fly for five days to get home to Wichita, Kansas, after getting off a cruise in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
After her departing flight was canceled, she stayed with family before taking an alternative route to Atlanta to make her connecting connection.
We had the wonderful fortune to be in Fort Lauderdale at the same time as my family is in the Tampa Bay area, so we were able to rent a car and go there for Christmas, said Jones. The author added, “It really breaks my heart to see so many families sleeping on the floor.”
According to the airline, passengers with canceled flights “may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire.”
The owner of Scott’s Cheap Flights suggests trying a foreign number if you’ve been left behind and your attempts to get in touch with a customer service agent aren’t working.
“The main hotline for US airlines will get busy as other passengers are rebooked. Call any of the airline’s numerous international offices right away to speak with a representative “According to Scott Keyes
Almost no waiting is involved, and representatives can handle your reservation just like those situated in the US.
According to a Southwest Airlines representative, “Ensure your own well-being. Maintain your receipts.”
A Southwest Airlines representative said that the recent winter storm was to blame for the thousands of flights that were canceled or delayed on Monday and Tuesday.
At a news conference held on Monday night at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, Jay McVay explained that as the hurricane continued to sweep through the country, it started to destroy several of our major stations. “The cancellations just gathered one after another to 100 to 150 to 1,000,” he added.
Because of those cancellations, we are left with flight crews and aircraft that are out of place and not in the places where they need to be to continue running our operations.
According to McVay, the company’s current main priority is safety. We want to ensure that these flights are conducted safely and that the flight crews are qualified and have adequate time to execute these flights, he said.
He committed to taking “hotels, transportation aid, vans, and rental autos to try and make sure these people get home as quickly as possible” in order to address the issues we are currently facing.
He promised them that all clients, including those who had already left the airport or had sought other means of transportation on their own, would be taken care of.
If you’ve already left, McVay advised taking care of yourself, taking care of your family as necessary, and keeping your receipts. That is not a question; we will take care of them.
Customers were apologized to and informed that the earliest SWA seats will be available would be on Saturday, December 31, and later in the terminal prior to the news conference. Travelers who might be affected by the inconvenience were told by the employee that southwest would offer shuttles to nearby hotels and that “we will have enough accommodations for all customers.”
The US government has conveyed “alert” concerning undoings.
Taking into account the enormous Southwest Carriers flight scratch-offs, the US Division of Transportation made a statement on Monday conveying “alert.”
“Southwest’s incredibly high rates of scratch-offs and delays, as well as reports of slow client support, stress USDOT. Expecting Southwest sticks to its client support plan, the Working environment will investigate whether withdrawals could have been obstructed.” The business tweeted something.
In an interview with a local station on Tuesday, Capt. Mike Santoro, vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, claimed that the difficulties Southwest was presently encountering were the worst delays he had experienced in his 16 years of employment with the company.
He claimed that the storm from the previous week was the catalyst for significant technical issues.
He said that what went wrong was that our IT infrastructure for the scheduling software is extremely out of date. “Our complex system of routes cannot support the number of pilots and flight attendants we currently employ.
“The conventional hub that the other major airlines have is absent from us. We use a point-to-point network instead of airplanes, which could place our staff in the incorrect places.”
He further added: “It aggravates our pilots, flight attendants, and passengers the most. The airline’s pilots genuinely feel awful for all of the passengers, but they are tired of having to apologize on Southwest’s behalf.”
Santoro expressed regret that the current disruption has also affected pilots and said that his group had been urging the airline to address its core problems for some time.
Imagine that everyone is looking for lodging while being in the wrong location and without hotel reservations. Although we have more than 10,000 pilots, not all of them are flying at once.
Additional recent events
Buffalo International Airport in the severely damaged west New York recently tweeted that it will delay the anticipated reopening by another 24 hours and would not begin passenger flights before Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET.
- The largest intercity bus company, Greyhound, announced in a service alert on Tuesday that until further notice, winter weather will cause numerous of its scheduled journeys in the upper northeast to be delayed. Cleveland, Syracuse, and Buffalo are among the cities that are impacted.