Southwest flyers continue to be delayed and canceled in the following days major airline crisis.
The Dallas-based carrier canceled 205 flights on Monday and delayed more than 40% of schedules, or about 1,770 flights, FlightAware data showed.
These numbers are not as high nearly 3,000 flights per day that Southwest canceled the final week of 2022. However, the airline remained underperforming during what is predicted to be one of the busiest travel days of the entire holiday travel period. .
Southwest topped the list of domestic airlines in cancellations and delays on Monday. FlightAware data shows that in addition to regional branches flying for larger carriers, Spirit is in second place with 94 cancellations and 417 delays as of Monday.
Monday is expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the entire holiday season, as the federal New Year’s holiday is celebrated on the first day of the week in 2023. As schools and governments alike When the company returned to classrooms and offices, many visitors used Monday as a holiday. travel day to return home.
TSA data showed a whopping 2,361,734 people passed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints on Monday, making it the second-busiest travel day since Christmas. .
While Southwest had the most operational problems of any U.S. airline on Monday, it wasn’t entirely the airline’s fault. Severe weather across the country, especially in Chicago and Denver – two of the Southwest’s largest cities – has caused airline delays and cancellations. Additionally, an air traffic control system failure in Florida caused another operational setback in the airline’s recovery.
That said, Southwest was hit the hardest and the airline is working hard to resume normal operations after last week’s crisis.
It all started the week before Christmas when a fierce winter storm swept through much of the country, sending temperatures in some cities dropping to levels not seen in three decades. Combined with fierce winds that ravaged East Coast airports and widespread snow inland—more than 5 feet high in some parts of the Great Lakes—that’s the recipe for disaster in the national skies. family.
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Airlines were besieged by the storm, with every major U.S. airline experiencing major disruption due to what some weather observers describe as a once-in-a-lifetime winter storm.
It only takes a day or two for most major US airlines to get back up and running. However, Southwest’s operations were so overwhelmed by the storm that it ended up becoming the nation’s largest airline crisis in recent history.
From December 26 to 29, Southwest canceled nearly 3,000 flights a day and delayed thousands more. The airline’s outdated crew planning system couldn’t handle the volume of reordering requests from pilots and flight attendants, resulting in hours of waiting for new assignments, making the company even more bogged down.
Combined with the airline’s unique network strategy of sending planes and crews across the country without necessarily returning to operations, it’s a recipe for disaster for Southwest.
The airline decided to perform a “reset” of its network and canceled thousands of flights in advance in the last week of the year. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were inconvenienced by the crisis, leaving some travelers with no time at home with family and friends during the holiday season.
Southwest apologized for the crisis in a recorded video with commercial director Ryan Green. “My personal apology is the first step to getting things right after a lot of plans changed and your unsatisfactory experience for us,” Green said.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg promised an “extraordinary effort” to ensure that Southwest compensates those disrupted.
Things started to return to normal on December 30, although it is a long way to recovery for the airline.
For one, Southwest needed to reunite customers with their checked baggage, many of whom had traveled to other cities with tourists. Many tourists have had to pay their own expenses as part of the crisis. Southwest promises to reimburse the costs of this hotel, car rental, and last-minute alternative transportation.
While we posted a instructions to be reimbursed by SouthwestI personally shared my positive experience on Twitter. Southwest refunded my canceled flight, sent me a check for a last-minute replacement ticket, and added a $250 future travel voucher as a gesture of goodwill.
Additionally, on Tuesday, the airline sent 25,000 Express Rewards points, valued at $375 at TPG’s valuation, to customers impacted by the airline’s crisis.
For Tuesday, things are getting better for the Southwest. The airline has canceled nearly 50 flights and delayed about 370 flights as of press time.
For more on the Southwest’s crisis, be sure to check out:
