Airplanes are de-iced at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee
Reuters
Southwest Airlines canceled more than 70% of its flights on Monday, while flight disruptions stemming from severe winter weather eased at other carriers, prompting concern from the US Department of Transportation.
As of Monday evening, Southwest had already cleared 60% of its flights for the next day.
Airlines have canceled more than 17,000 U.S. flights since Wednesday, according to FlightAware, as the storms brought snow, ice, high winds and bitter cold to the country, derailing air travel from coast to coast. These conditions slowed down the crews as they faced harsh conditions at the airfields.
Southwest said Monday it expects “further changes with already reduced flight levels as we approach the upcoming New Year’s holiday period.”
Carriers are likely to detail the cost of the outages when they report results next month, if not sooner. Southwest Airlines had huge problems. Executives cited unexpected fog in San Diego, staff shortages at a fuel supplier in Denver and in-house technology among additional challenges.
“USDOT is concerned about Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable cancellation and delay rates and failure to properly assist customers who experience cancellations or delays,” the Department of Transportation said late Monday. “When more information becomes available, the department will carefully examine whether the cancellations were controlled and whether Southwest followed its customer service plan and any other relevant DOT rules.”
Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines were among the carriers affected by the weather. But other airlines had a percentage of canceled flights on Monday.
Southwest’s woes continued Monday as other carriers stabilized. The carrier canceled more than 2,800 flights, 70% of its schedule, and another 670 were delayed. By comparison, Delta canceled 9% of its mainline flights on Monday, United 5% and American less than 1%, with 12 flights canceled.
More than 3,200 US flights were canceled Monday and nearly 5,000 were delayed. Southwest canceled many flights proactively in an effort to stabilize operations, Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson told staff.
From Wednesday through Sunday, nearly a third of Southwest flights were canceled and two-thirds were delayed, according to FlightAware data.
The airline apologized to employees for the chaos that left many scrambling to get hold of crew scheduling services, making it difficult to reassign or make other changes or get hotel rooms.
Southwest also offered extra pay to flight attendants working during the holidays.
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in an announcement to staff Monday that it could take several more days to fix the airline’s operations.
“Part of what we’re suffering from is a lack of tools,” Jordan said in a message to staff Sunday. “We talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation and the need for it. And team planning is one of the places we need to invest. We need to be able to produce solutions faster.”
Some pilots and flight attendants have been forced to sleep at airports because they have been unable to find hotel rooms, their unions said.
Teams complained about being blocked and having to wait on hold with scheduling services. “Our customers struggled with this, just like our thousands of flight attendants. These are problems you can’t solve with vacation pay; it’s time and quality of life we’ll never get back,” Lynn Montgomery, president of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 556, said in a statement.
The pilots’ and flight attendants’ unions are in contract negotiations with the company.
Airlines often cancel flights proactively during bad weather to avoid planes, crews and customers being out of place, problems that can make recovery from a storm more difficult.
Carriers also planned smaller schedules for Christmas Eve and Christmas compared to the days leading up to the holidays, making it difficult for them to book passengers on other flights, and bookings increased. An American Airlines spokesman said “the vast majority of our customers affected by the cancellations have been able to be readmitted.”
Delta “is seeing a steady recovery in our operations and we expect improvements to continue over the next several hours,” a spokesman said Monday.
The extreme cold and high winds slowed ground operations at dozens of airports. More than half of flights on US-based airlines arrived late Thursday through Saturday, with delays averaging 81 minutes, according to FlightAware.
“Temperatures dropped so low that our equipment and infrastructure were affected, from frozen ventilation systems and fuel lines to broken towbars,” United Airlines said in a message to pilots on Saturday. “The pilots encountered frozen locks when attempting to re-enter the jet bridge after performing a go-around.”
The FAA said it had to evacuate its downtown tower at United Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey due to a leak on Saturday.
Meanwhile, JetBlue offered flight attendants triple pay to take trips on Christmas Eve due to staff shortages.
Passengers check in at the Delta counter at Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Michigan on December 22, 2022.
Jeff Kowalski | AFP | Getty Images
An American Airlines spokesman said “the vast majority of our customers affected by the cancellations have been able to be readmitted.”
Delta “is seeing a steady recovery in our operations and we expect improvements to continue over the next several hours,” a spokesman said Monday.
However, passengers also encountered delayed luggage.
Bill Weaver, 41, said he, his wife and five children were driving from Wichita, Kansas to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport for a Friday flight to Cancun after their connecting flight to the American Airlines hub was canceled. The American Airlines flight to Cancun arrived on time, but their luggage didn’t arrive in Cancun until Monday and didn’t arrive at their hotel until mid-morning, so they had to spend hundreds of dollars to buy clothes and other essentials at their hotel.
Weaver, who works in software sales, said he traveled frequently.
“I’m used to missing bags and things happening, but this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said.
The extreme cold and high winds slowed ground operations at dozens of airports. More than half of flights on US-based airlines arrived late Thursday through Saturday, with delays averaging 81 minutes, according to FlightAware.
“Temperatures dropped so low that our equipment and infrastructure were affected, from frozen ventilation systems and fuel lines to broken towbars,” United Airlines said in a message to pilots on Saturday. “The pilots encountered frozen locks when attempting to re-enter the jet bridge after performing a go-around.”
The FAA said it had to evacuate its downtown tower at United Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey due to a leak on Saturday.
Meanwhile, JetBlue offered flight attendants triple pay to take trips on Christmas Eve due to staff shortages.