Air travelers in the United States hoping for clear skies on Tuesday following a disastrous week of weather-related flight cancellations and delays will have to extend their patience a few more days — particularly if they’re flying with Southwest Airlines.
More than 2,892 flights within, into or out of the US have already been cancele. Tuesday as of 9 a.m. ET, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
Of those canceled flights, 2,522 are operate by Southwest.
Airports most affecte by the Tuesday cancellations are Denver International. Followe by Chicago Midway International, Baltimore/Washington International. Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Dallas Love Field and Nashville International.
Southwest Airlines continues canceling flights as New Year holiday approaches
Tuesday’s cancellations follow a full day of post-Christmas travel chaos, with 3,989 flights canceled on Monday — 2,909 of those being Southwest flights. And Southwest’s Christmas struggles come amid a year of troubles for the airline industry. Over the summer, nearly a quarter of US flights were delaye and thousands were cancele.
Southwest warns that this week’s cancellations and delays are expecte to continue for several more days, with representatives saying the Dallas-based airline is planning to dial back its flight schedule in order to get operations on track.
Southwest Airlines continues canceling flights as New Year holiday approaches
The company plans to operate just over a third of its schedule. In upcoming days to give itself the ability for crews to get into the right positions.
According to WSJ.com, Jordan added that reduced schedule could be extende.
“We had a tough day today. In all likelihood we’ll have another tough. 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 was hit particularly hard because of a cascade of issues.
The storm slammed two of its biggest hubs — Chicago and Denver — at a time when Covid and other winter ailments were stretching staff rosters. Southwest’s aggressive schedule and underinvestment have also been blame.
The winter storm that swept across the country was ill-time. Travelers who had started pushing Christmas week flying numbers back toward pre-pandemic levels.
On Christmas Day, 3,178 flights were cancele and 6,870 were delaye, according to FlightAware.
On Christmas Eve, there were a total of 3,487 flights cancele, according to FlightAware.
Friday was the worst day of this streak with 5,934 cancellations, while Thursday saw almost 2,700 cancellations.
What can stranded passengers do?
At the Southwest ticket counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday morning, long lines were already building up as travelers waited to try to rebook flights or make connections.
And at Chicago’s Midway International, huge buildups of unclaimed bags piled up as passengers struggled to reclaim their luggage.