Southwest is canceling 70% of flights as disruptions to air journey ease elsewhere

Last updated Dec 27, 2022

Planes are de-iced at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee

Reuters

Southwest Airlines canceled more than 70% of its flights on Monday and has been warned there will be mass disruptions this week, raising concerns at the US Department of Transportation as other airlines recover from severe winter weather.

As of Monday night, Southwest had already canceled 60% of its next-day flights.

Southwest said it would operate just a third of its flight schedule “over the next few days” in a bid to restore its operations, the airline said Monday.

According to FlightAware, airlines have canceled more than 17,000 U.S. flights since Wednesday as storms brought snow, ice, high winds and bitter cold across the country, disrupting coast-to-coast air travel. These conditions slowed crews as they faced difficult conditions at airports.

Southwest said on Monday that it expects “additional changes to already reduced traffic as we approach the upcoming New Year’s holiday travel season.”

Airlines are likely to detail the cost of the disruptions when they report the results next month, if not sooner. Southwest Airlines has had outsized struggles. Executives pointed to unexpected fog in San Diego, staff shortages at its Denver fuel supplier and internal technology as among the additional challenges.

“USDOT is concerned about Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and failure to provide adequate assistance to customers experiencing a cancellation or delay,” the Department of Transportation said late Monday. “As more information becomes available, the Department will conduct a thorough review of whether cancellations have been controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan and any other applicable DOT rules.”

Delta Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines were among the transport companies affected by the weather. But other airlines also had a percentage of cancellations on Monday.

Southwest’s problems continued Monday while other airlines stabilized. The airline had canceled more than 2,800 flights, 70% of its schedule, and 670 others were delayed. By comparison, as of Monday, Delta had canceled 9% of its mainline flights, United 5% and American less than 1%, with 12 flights cancelled.

More than 3,200 US flights were canceled Monday and nearly 5,000 were delayed. Southwest has been proactively canceling many flights to stabilize its operations, COO Andrew Watterson told employees.

From Wednesday through Sunday, almost a third of Southwest’s flights were canceled and two-thirds were delayed, according to FlightAware data.

The airline apologized to staff for the chaos, which left many struggling to reach crew scheduling services, making it harder to make reassignments or other changes, or get hotel rooms.

Southwest also offered extra pay to flight attendants who worked past the holiday.

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in an employee message it could be a few more days before the airline’s operations are repaired.

“Part of what we suffer is a lack of tools,” Jordan said in a message to employees on Sunday. “We have spoken a great deal about modernizing operations and the need to do so. And crew planning is one of the areas where we need to invest. We need to be able to produce solutions faster.”

Some pilots and flight attendants have had to stay overnight at airports because they couldn’t find hotel rooms, their unions said.

Crews complained of being stranded and having to wait on hold with planning services. “Our customers have struggled with this, as have our thousands of flight attendants. These are problems that vacation pay cannot solve; this is time and quality of life that we will never get back,” Lyn Montgomery, president of Transport Workers Union of America Local 556, said in a statement.

Both the pilot and flight attendant unions are in contract talks with the company.

Airlines are often proactive in canceling flights during bad weather to avoid leaving planes, crews and customers out of place, problems that can complicate recovery after a storm.

Airlines were also planning smaller flight schedules for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day compared to the days leading up to the holiday, making it harder for them to rebook travelers on other flights, and bookings had skyrocketed. A spokeswoman for American Airlines said the “vast majority of our customers affected by cancellations have been rebooked.”

Delta “sees a steady recovery in our operations and expects improvements to continue over the next few hours,” a spokesman said Monday.

Extreme cold and high winds slowed ground operations at dozens of airports. According to FlightAware, more than half of U.S. airline flights from Thursday through Saturday arrived with delays, averaging 81 minutes late.

“Temperatures have dropped so low that our equipment and infrastructure have been affected, from frozen lava systems and fuel hoses to broken towbars,” United Airlines said in a message to pilots on Saturday. “Pilots have encountered frozen locks when attempting to re-enter the jet bridge after a tour.”

The FAA said it had to evacuate its tower at United’s hub at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey because of a leak Saturday.

JetBlue, meanwhile, offered flight attendants triple pay to pick up flights on Christmas Eve due to staff shortages.

Passengers check in at the Delta counter at Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Michigan, December 22, 2022.

Jeff Kowalski | AFP | Getty Images

A spokeswoman for American Airlines said the “vast majority of our customers affected by cancellations have been rebooked.”

Delta “sees a steady recovery in our operations and expects improvements to continue over the next few hours,” a spokesman said Monday.

However, passengers also faced delayed baggage.

Bill Weaver, 41, said he, his wife and five children drove from Wichita, Kansas, to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to fly to Cancun on Friday after their connecting flight to the American Airlines hub was cancelled. American Airlines flight to Cancun arrived on time, but their luggage didn’t arrive in Cancun until Monday and hadn’t made it to their hotel by mid-morning, so they had to spend hundreds of dollars to buy clothes and other essentials in their hotel.

Weaver, who works in software sales, said he used to travel a lot.

“I’m used to missing bags and things happen, but this is by far the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.

The FAA said it had to evacuate its tower at United’s hub at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey because of a leak Saturday.

JetBlue, meanwhile, offered flight attendants triple pay to pick up flights on Christmas Eve due to staff shortages.