DOT to probe Southwest cancellations that stranded flyers

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

an hour ago

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it will look into flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines that have left travelers stranded at airports across the country amid an intense winter storm that has killed dozens of people.

Many airlines were forced to cancel flights due to the weather, but Southwest was the most affected. About 4,000 domestic U.S. flights were cancelled Monday, according to the tracking website FlightAware, and 2,900 of those were Southwest’s. Nearly 2,500 more flights had already been canceled as of 5 a.m. Tuesday and problems are likely to continue at least into Wednesday.

Southwest spokesman Jay McVay said at a press conference in Houston that cancellations snowballed as storm systems moved across the country, leaving flight crews and planes out of place

“So we’ve been chasing our tails, trying to catch up and get back to normal safely, which is our number one priority as quickly as we could,” he said. “And that’s exactly how we ended up where we are today.”



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-transportation-us-department-of-0925834b8cfcf1150358f874334d16d7?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_04

[OnDoutside]

1. The US should be copying the EU consumer protection law.

We had a 3 hour delay on our flight from Spain to Ireland last June, and each of the 3 of us received 400 euro each, because it was Ryanair's fault.

[EarthFirst]

2. Friends of ours trying to get back home we're told potentially they could fly out by Jan 3...

Granted; we’re in the Northeat; after an incredible weather weekend; however that’s seven days from today…

[róisín_dubh]

3. I'm sick and have to change my flight...

Thank god it’s not on Southwest, though this has spurred me to just make the change instead of hoping I’ll feel better.

[agingdem]

4. Southwest cancelled my flight home..

Impossible to reach an agent by phone..impossible to change reservations online bc nothing available for days for days so I booked a reservation on American..a four hour flight and s plane change with minutes to spare .. $250 more than the cost of my southwest return flight .. not happy

[moonshinegnomie]

5. the dot shoud consider shutting them down until

they come up with a new emergency plan. maybe make SWA pay 1k to each stranded passenger along with paying them for any extra hotel nights plus meals

[snowybirdie]

6. Americans need

to be more realistic about traveling in December. We always have delays and cancelled flights this time of year, every year. Is a few hours of enjoyment with family over the Holidays worth all the hassle it takes to bet there and back? I don't want to put my family through that nor am,I willing to do that either. Zoom calls can be a satisfying way to get together during the worst weather probability of the year. So much time and money wasted. Perhaps Christmas in July for some?

[LittleGirl]

7. I'm with you.

Traveling around the holidays is a leap in faith that Mother Nature won’t mess your timing. Especially if your travel window isn’t flexible. Everyone know winter travel can be just as dangerous as traveling during a heat wave, hurricane, tornadoes or earthquakes. Flying in and out of winter travel should be flexible. You may be able to take off and land but if there’s a blizzard blowing snow every which direction, you’ll have to wait until it’s over. So scary.

[róisín_dubh]

11. I wish I'd thought about this

I live in the UK. I would normally fly to New York for Thanksgiving, as it's my mom's favourite holiday. But this year I got guilted into coming home for Christmas. I booked my flights in late October. Then the train strikes in the UK were announced in November, but by that point, changing my flight was prohibitively expensive. Then the Border Force announced strikes. Then the baggage handlers. And one of the main train stations in London is closed for renovation, which means being routed all over London to get back to Essex.
Then when I flew over, my flight in was delayed because of bad weather in England (ice, snow and frigid temps) and then horrible winds in New York. I'm meant to fly back Thursday but will move it to Sunday, so that at least when I land after a 7 hour flight, I don't have long border delays, baggage delays or few train options. Luckily it's not super expensive to change the flight.
I'm never traveling in December again. I'll go in the spring.

[Skittles]

13. some people are very selfish

their need to be somewhere trumps common sense

[EarthFirst]

9. NPR reporting SWA has cancelled 5400 flights in less than 48 hours...

Calling it a “full blown meltdown…”

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/26/1145536902/southwest-flight-cancellations-winter-storm?utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR1FoghtvrxC0TlsRFuVcD4_X03FO3JWUap4Qq-pZLaG-ps9Rj2IXIkkTs4

[cstanleytech]

10. Maybe an issue of a lack of enough aircraft due to a significant number of them being at airports

where the ice and snow grounded them?

[melm00se]

12. No no no no

it is all caused by the uber capitalistic robber barons who own these airlines. They conspire to arrange this so they can make more and more money off the backs of the proletariat!!!

=========================

More than likely you are correct: planes stuck at shuttered airports, flight crews who can't get to the airport due to travel restrictions and airport workers in the same boat.

Getting a plane off the ground requires a ton of synchronized cooperative events and if even one of them is broken the whole process stops.

[Skittles]

17. no no no no

ALL airlines had these issues

Southwest had some issues of their own making that added to the, er, "perfect storm" - antiquated scheduling software, for example...

[cbabe]

14. Buttigieg comments

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017793162

[PlutosHeart]

15. Did Evilon Musk buy it?

[Skittles]

16. the public doesn't want an airline with "antiquated software"

Southwest needs to GET WITH THE PROGRAM.....disappointing, because they have long been my favorite airline....

[kirby]

18. I know multiple people...

I know multiple people whose flights were cancelled.. In all cases it was lack of flight attendants or pilots 'timing out' after waiting hours to get flight attendants.

Sounds like SW really screwed up their logistics. I read that their software for scheduling crews is a disaster that hasn't been updated or maintained and nobody wants to touch the code in fear of breaking something. Apparently it crashed and people were trying to manually figure stuff out which is close to impossible with such high volume.

I am curious, was SW one of the airlines that got lots of taxpayer money during COVID? Why didn't they use that to modernize during the down time?

I also don't know, but if other airlines flights were operating, shouldn't SW have been forced to put people on other carriers at their own cost?