Air travelers in the US got a sigh of relief as the sky will be clear on Tuesday after weather-related flight cancellations and delays for the past few days.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, As of 9 am, ET, more than 2892 flights flying within and out of the US have been canceled for Tuesday.
Of these canceled flights, the majority were operated by Southwest Airlines.
The most affected airports due to flight cancellations are Denver International, followed by Chicago Midway International, Baltimore/Washington International, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Dallas Love Field, and Nashville International.
On Monday, out of 3989 flights canceled, 2909 were those of Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines has faced a lot of problems already this year, and the recent weather-related cancellations have made people question their operations.
Southwest airlines have warned that flight delays and cancelations will continue for several more days. Bob Jordan, CEO of Southwest airlines told the Wall Street Journal that the company plans to operate just over a third of its schedule in the coming days to give the right time to the crew and get back on track.
According to WSJ.com, Jordan added that the current delays and cancelations could be extended.
“We had a tough day today. “In all likelihood, we’ll have another tough day tomorrow as we work our way out of this,” Jordan said in an interview Monday evening with WSJ.com.
“This is the largest scale event that I’ve ever seen.”
Southwest Airlines was hit hard by a slew of things. The storm hit two of its biggest hubs at a time when the world was suffering from COVID and weather-related issues. The airline’s underinvestment and aggressive schedule have also been blamed.
According to FlightAware, on Christmas Day, 6870 flights were delayed, and 3178 flights were canceled, while on Christmas Eve, 3487 flights were canceled.
Friday had the highest number of cancellations, while Thursday saw almost 2700 cancellations.
What can stranded travelers do?
Long lines were building up at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international AirPort as passengers were trying to rebook flights.
Passenger Trisha Jones told our correspondent at the airport in Atlanta that she and her partner had been traveling for five days after disembarking from a cruise at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, trying to get home to Wichita, Kansas.
She stayed with her relatives after her flight was canceled and then had to travel to Atlanta to pick up a connecting flight.
The southwest airline official said, “Those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire.” And said that the airline committed to redress all the passenger’s grievances and helping them for the inconvenience caused.
If your efforts to reach a customer service agent are in vain and you are not able to find a possible redressal, the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights suggests trying an international number.
Scott Keyes said, “The main hotline for US airlines will be clogged with other passengers getting rebooked.” “To get through to an agent quickly, call any one of the airline’s dozens of international offices.”
“Agents can handle your reservation just like US-based ones can, but there’s virtually no wait to get through.”
Click here to get the international numbers that Southwest Airlines has previously posted.
Thanks for having me on @CNN this morning with @PoppyHarlowCNN and @kaitlancollins chatting what to do for ✈️ cancellations — also side note — love seeing an all-female host/guest team 🙋🏼♀️ #traveltalk #tipsforflying #Cancellations pic.twitter.com/YjxFRqBhZZ
— Katy Nastro (@KatyNast) December 27, 2022
Southwest airlines official said: “Take care of yourself…keep your receipts”
The recent winter storm is the main cause of the long flight delays and cancellations for Monday and Tuesday, a spokesperson from Southwest Airlines said.
“As the storm continued to sweep across the country, it continued to impact many of our larger stations, and so the cancellations just compiled one after another to 100 to 150 to 1,000,” Jay McVay said in a press conference at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport on Monday night.
“With those cancellations, and as a result, we end up with flight crews and airplanes that are out of place and not in the cities that they need to be in to continue to run our operations.”
McVay said that the company’s priority right now is safety. “We want to make sure that we operate these flights safely and that we have the flight crews that have legal and sufficient time to operate these flights,” he stated.
We continue to experience high call and social inquiry volumes. Please check your flight status and explore self-service options here: https://t.co/WIFDwb9epE pic.twitter.com/PCMDOYGHON
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) December 26, 2022,
“We will do everything that we need to do to right the challenges that we’ve had right now,” he said, including “hotels, ride assistance, vans … rental cars to try and make sure these folks get home as quickly as possible.”
He also told that all the customers would be taken care of, and all the arrangements are being made for that.
“If you’ve already left, take care of yourself, do what you need to do for your family, and keep your receipts,” McVay relayed. “We will make sure they are taken care of; that is not a question.”
There was an apology announcement on the terminal just before the news conference that said Southwest would be providing buses to area hotels and promised that they would provide the required support to customers who were affected by this disruption.
Recent Cancellations made the US government ‘Concerned’ and ‘Alarmed’
On Monday’s flight cancellations by Southwest airlines, The United State Department for transportation issued a statement saying the agency is “concerned”.
“USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and reports of lack of prompt customer service.” “The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan,” the agency tweeted.
Captain Mike Santoro, the vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said the problems facing Southwest were the worst disruptions he’d experienced in his 16 years at the airline.
He also told that the recent storm was the main cause of the problems faced by passengers and it caused a lot of technical issues.
“What went wrong is that our IT infrastructure for scheduling software is vastly outdated,” he said. “It can’t handle the number of pilots, and flight attendants that we have in the system, with our complex route network.”
Southwest airlines official: “Take care of yourself…keep your receipts”
The recent winter storm is the main cause of the long flight delays and cancellations for Monday and Tuesday, a spokesperson from Southwest Airlines said.
“As the storm continued to sweep across the country, it continued to impact many of our larger stations, and so the cancellations just compiled one after another to 100 to 150 to 1,000,” Jay McVay said in a press conference at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport on Monday night.
“With those cancellations, and as a result, we end up with flight crews and airplanes that are out of place and not in the cities that they need to be in to continue to run our operations.”
McVay said that the company’s priority right now is safety. “We want to make sure that we operate these flights safely and that we have the flight crews that have legal and sufficient time to operate these flights,” he stated.
“We don’t have the normal hub that other major airlines do.” “We fly a point-to-point network, which can put our crews in the wrong places without airplanes.”
He added: “It is frustrating for the pilots, the flight attendants, and especially our passengers.” We are tired of apologizing for Southwest, the pilots in the airline, our hearts go out to all of the passengers, they do.”
Southwest Airlines pilots’ association spokesperson Santaro, said his association has been trying hard to solve the structural bottlenecks and said that even the pilots were affected by the recent delays and disruptions.
“We have, over 10,000 pilots, not all flying at the same time, but imagine everyone is in the wrong city, without hotel assignments, and trying to find hotels?”