CNN
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Air vacationers within the US hoping for clear skies on Tuesday following a disastrous week of weather-related flight cancellations and delays should prolong their persistence a number of extra days – significantly in the event that they’re flying with Southwest Airlines.
More than 2,790 flights inside, into or out of the US have already been canceled for Tuesday as of 4:15 a.m. ET, based on flight monitoring web site FlightAware.
Of these canceled flights, 2,487 are operated by Southwest.
Airports most affected by the Tuesday cancellations are Denver International, adopted by Chicago Midway International, Baltimore/Washington International, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Dallas Love Field and Nashville International.
Tuesday’s cancellations observe a full day of post-Christmas travel chaos, with 3,989 flights canceled on Monday – 2,909 of these being Southwest flights.
Southwest warns that such cancellations and delays are anticipated to proceed for a number of extra days, with representatives saying the Dallas-based airline is planning to dial again its flight schedule with the intention to get operations on observe.
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan instructed the Wall Street Journal the corporate plans to function simply over a 3rd of its schedule in upcoming days to present itself the flexibility for crews to get into the suitable positions.
According to WSJ.com, Jordan added that decreased schedule might be prolonged.
“We had a tough day today. In all likelihood we’ll have another tough day tomorrow as we work our way out of this,” Jordan mentioned in an interview Monday night with WSJ.com.
“This is the largest scale event that I’ve ever seen.”
CNN’s Carlos Suarez spoke with annoyed passengers in line on the Southwest ticket counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday afternoon.
He reported that about 150 prospects had been ready in a protracted line at one level to rebook, with the road snaking across the again of the ticket counter.
Calls made Monday afternoon by CNN to Southwest’s customer support didn’t undergo, so prospects couldn’t even get within the queue to talk to a consultant. Southwest instructed CNN it’s “fully staffed to answer calls.”
The airline additionally says, “those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire.”
If you’ve been left within the lurch and your efforts to achieve a customer support agent are going nowhere, the founding father of Scott’s Cheap Flights suggests attempting a world quantity.
“The main hotline for US airlines will be clogged with other passengers getting rebooked. To get through to an agent quickly, call any one of the airline’s dozens of international offices,” Scott Keyes mentioned.
“Agents can handle your reservation just like US-based ones can, but there’s virtually no wait to get through.”
Click here to get international numbers that Southwest has beforehand posted.
A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines (SWA) mentioned the current winter storm is guilty for the cascade of hundreds of flight cancellations Monday and superior cancellations Tuesday.
“As the storm continued to sweep across the country it continued to impact many of our larger stations and so the cancellations just compiled one after another to 100 to 150 to 1,000,” Jay McVay mentioned in a press convention at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport on Monday evening.
“With those cancellations and as a result, we end up with flight crews and airplanes that are out of place and not in the cities that they need to be in to continue to run our operations.”
McVay mentioned that the corporate’s first precedence proper now’s security. “We want to make sure that we operate these flights safely and that we have the flight crews that have legal and sufficient time to operate these flights,” he said.
“We will do everything that we need to do to right the challenges that we’ve had right now,” he mentioned, together with “hotels, ride assistance, vans … rental cars to try and make sure these folks get home as quickly as possible.”
He promised that each one prospects, even those that had already left the airport or made alternate preparations on their very own, would even be taken care of.
“If you’ve already left, take care of yourself, do what you need to do for your family, keep your receipts,” McVay relayed. “We will make sure they are taken care of, that is not a question.”
An announcement made within the terminal previous to the information convention apologized to prospects, and mentioned the following out there SWA seats are on Saturday, December 31st and later. The agent mentioned Southwest can be offering buses to space resorts and guaranteed that “we will have sufficient rooms for all customers who are affected by this disruption.”
The United State Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued an announcement on Monday’s large flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines, saying the company is “concerned”.
“USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and reports of lack of prompt customer service. The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan,” the company tweeted.
Meanwhile, in a name with CNN on Monday, the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Captain Casey Murray, mentioned the issues Southwest is experiencing have been brewing for a very long time.
“We’ve been having these issues for the past 20 months,” he mentioned. “We’ve seen these sorts of meltdowns occur on a much more regular basis and it really just has to do with outdated processes and outdated IT.”
When requested in regards to the airline’s processes, he mentioned they haven’t modified because the 1990s. “It’s phones, it’s computers, it’s processing power, it’s the programs used to connect us to airplanes – that’s where the problem lies, and it’s systemic throughout the whole airline.”
“This ultimately is a leadership problem,” Murray said. “Until we have some true leadership that is going to make some changes and really bring this airline into the 21st century we’re going to continue to see this, and our customers and our employees are going to continue to suffer.”
– In hard-hit western New York, Buffalo International Airport mentioned in its most up-to-date tweet that it doesn’t plan to renew passenger flights earlier than 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, pushing again the anticipated reopening by one other 24 hours later than beforehand anticipated.
– Greyhound, the biggest supplier of intercity bus service, issued a service alert on Monday afternoon stating a lot of its scheduled companies within the higher northeast will probably be canceled or disrupted till additional discover because of winter climate. Affected cities embody Buffalo, Cleveland and Syracuse.
A winter storm that swept throughout the US was ill-timed for vacationers who had began pushing Christmas week flying numbers again towards pre-pandemic ranges.
On Christmas Day, 3,178 flights had been canceled and 6,870 had been delayed, based on FlightAware.
On Christmas Eve, there have been a complete of three,487 flights canceled, based on FlightAware.
Friday was the worst day of this streak with 5,934 cancellations, whereas Thursday noticed virtually 2,700 cancellations.