Southwest cancels 5,400 flights in less than 48 hours in a 'full-blown meltdown'

[marmar]

(NPR) A historic winter storm has tangled holiday travel and brought dangerous conditions to a big chunk of the United States, but no airline has struggled more to navigate the Christmas holiday rush than Southwest Airlines.

Southwest canceled more than 2,900 flights Monday — at least 70% of its schedule for the day — and more than 2,500 flights Tuesday as of 9:10 a.m. ET — at least 60% of its schedule, according to flight tracker FlightAware. The disruptions add to chaos that has left people stranded at airports across the country, many of them with little idea of when they can get home or where their bags are.

The number of canceled flights for Southwest Monday was more than 10 times higher than for Delta, which had the second-most cancellations by a U.S. airline with 265 flights called off. Other airlines have also ordered large-scale cancellations in the past week.

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Link to tweet

Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry told NPR the airline's disruptions are a result of the winter storm's lingering effects, adding that it hopes to "stabilize and improve its operation" with more favorable weather conditions.

Other issues that have exacerbated the airline's struggle to accommodate the holiday rush include problems with "connecting flight crews to their schedules," Perry said. That issue has made it difficult for employees to access crew scheduling services and get reassignments. ...................(more)

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/26/1145536902/southwest-flight-cancellations-winter-storm

[lindysalsagal]

1. They're establishing their 2nd-rate status. I wonder if their

Fees are less, considering their diminished ability to remediate the emergency?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I worked for Mohawk Airlines many decades ago.

Once, during a winter storm, we cancelled every single flight system wide, as most of our cities were shut down. I believe we shut down completely for two days.

This is why I don't ask my son who lives on the east coast to visit me over Christmas. Nor do I fly anywhere this time of year.

[wryter2000]

5. The price keeps me from flying at Christmas

What a rip-off.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Honestly, don't let the price be the issue.

Take it from this former airline employee. Don't even consider flying over Thanksgiving or Christmas because the weather and the totally booked flights make things very difficult.

If possible, drive. If that's not feasible, stay where you live, have a wonderful holiday with friends there or even completely by yourself, which isn't all that bad, trust me. Visit family at other times in the year when things aren't so crazy.

I really mean it, trust me. Ten years as an airline ticket agent at DCA, Washington National Airport, I learned to hate holidays. Especially Thanksgiving, but Christmas wasn't far behind. In those ten years, I early on learned that if the flights weren't fucked up on the outgoing half of the holiday, they'd surely be totally screwed on the return part.

Best example is this: December 1, 1972. The Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. When I got to the airport around 2pm that day (I worked an afternoon shift) I was told not to take my coat off, and if I had gloves to keep them on. Strong cross winds had kept the airport closed the entire day. The winds were so strong, that the carpet things we had to cover our baggage chutes were being flown straight up. Oh, my.

I learned I could type on the computer keyboard with gloves on.

That day, even before I got to work, TWA flight 514, originally scheduled into DCA, but diverted to IAD (Dulles) because of the crosswinds at National, crashed into a mountain outside of IAD. If you are sufficiently interested, the book Sound of Impact: The Legacy of TWA Flight 514 by Adam Shaw is a good account.

Airline employees often have a very morbid and obsessive interest in plane crashes. You really don't want to get me started on the topic.

[wryter2000]

9. That's what I do

Stay home. I have dear friends I have Thanksgiving dinner with. I don’t like Christmas, so I happily ignore the day other than to sing in the choir at church. (A Christian who doesn’t like Christmas, lol.). But if none of that were true, I still wouldn’t pay those prices.

[asiliveandbreathe]

3. Daughters boss got stuck in Indianapolis ..SW flight cancelled..

He called her and told her to please help checking around..Kentucky, St. Louis, anywhere..he had to be back today...then they tandem searched for cars...finally he text her, "found a car"..25 hours to Phoenix...not sure where he is right now..she said she told him several times "don't go"

Nope, ain't gonna do it..

[Wednesdays]

4. " A historic winter storm has tangled holiday travel..."

No other airline has had the cancellation problem that SW has! None!

[MOMFUDSKI]

6. My neighbors left Christmas Day from Tampa to Houston

to change planes and on to Denver. Well, they never got out of Houston. Luggage is MIA with his pills in it. SWA put them up in a motel for ONE NITE but they stayed 2 and their son had to find a rental car using his computer. Today they will be driving back to St. Petersburg, FL which is a 980 mile trip. Laugh a minute.

[Delphinus]

7. There is a part of me

that wonders if it is a quiet pilot/flight attendant “strike” as well as the weather.