Southwest Airlines was responsible for the majority of flight cancellations and delays in the U.S. for the third straight day on Wednesday. Meaning the airline’s holiday troubles aren’t over yet. As of Wednesday evening, Southwest has accounted for 2509 or 61% of cancellations and 318 or 7% of delays amongst airlines, according to FlightAware. Southwest had canceled 65% of its flights that were scheduled for Tuesday as well.
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After a catastrophic week of weather-related flight cancellations and delays, nearly 4,670 flights were canceled as of Tuesday at 11:20 a.m. ET according to FlightAware with 2,544 of those flights being Southwest alone. These cancellations are coming after a full day of post-Christmas travel chaos, with 3,989 flights canceled Monday – 2,909 of those being Southwest flights. And now the U.S. Department of Transportation is saying they will look into flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines.
While many airlines were forced to cancel flights due to weather, Southwest has been the most affected. A Southwest spokesperson, Jay McVay, stated that the cancellations snowballed as storm systems moved across the county, leaving flight crews and planes out of place. As of now the most affected airports Tuesday, due to the cancellations, are Denver International, followed by Chicago Midway International, Baltimore/Washington International, Harry Reid International, Nashville International, and Dallas Love Field.
Southwest has warned that cancellations and delays could continue into the week as the company plans to dial back its flight schedule to get operations on track. Though for stranded passengers, the headache doesn’t look to be going away anytime soon as lines are building at Southwest’s ticket counters to rebook flights or make connections. And luggage is piling up as massive amounts of unclaimed bags and lost luggage dampen the moods of those who were able to make flights.
SWA Remedies
Update Labor software alone
Change vendors
Modernize
Hire New Blood
Fire Board & CEO
Refund all those effected by delays
Southwest Flight cancellations began the evening of Dec. 21, 2022 by cancelling all flights out of Denver beginning Dec. 22, 2022. My daughter and her husband were able to book a flight on United flying from Denver to Pensacola, Florida at a much much higher cost to them. Their return flight to Denver on Southwest was set for Dec. 29,2022, this too was cancelled. My other daughter and my grand daughter were scheduled to fly out of Pensacola to Denver on Dec.28th, 2022, the flight was cancelled. Together the 5 of them ended up renting a vehicle and driving back to Denver facing additional expenses of the rental vehicle, gas and lodging not to mention the stress caused by the compounded problems created by Southwest.