![]() In October of that year, it had similar issues and canceled more than 1,800 flights over one weekend.Įven before this week’s problems, Mr. The airline also suffered a technology meltdown in June 2021 that resulted in a day when half of its flights were delayed and many were canceled it took days before the situation could be resolved. “We’re seeing these meltdowns occur with more severity and more frequency and this past weekend was the exclamation point,” he said. Murray said the union had been urging the airline for years to update “I.T. We couldn’t keep up with the cascading events.” “Once one card falls, the whole house falls here at Southwest,” he said. With nowhere to go, hundreds of pilots and crew members slept in airports next to passengers and luggage, he said. Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, the union that represents the almost 10,000 Southwest pilots. Pilots and crew members looking for their next assignment waited hours - nine hours in one case - to speak to staff members at Southwest’s overwhelmed operations center, said Casey A. Other large carriers like United and American rely on a “hub-and-spoke” model in which planes typically fly from smaller cities to a hub airport where passengers change planes. Point-to-point flights cut travel times by eliminating the intermediate stop - typically a big advantage for travelers who are not flying from major metro areas. Southwest uses a “point-to-point” route model that often lets passengers fly directly from smaller cities and regions without having to stop at a central hub like Denver or New York. So what caused the meltdown? The “point-to-point” model failed Some passengers, unable to rebook Southwest flights, rented cars or spent hundreds of dollars to buy tickets on other airlines. And Southwest said in a statement on Wednesday that it planned to fly one third of its scheduled flights for the next several days as it tries to return to normal operations, meaning it would continue to cancel close to 2,500 flights a day. More than 2,500 flights, or 62 percent of its planned flights on Wednesday, had been canceled, according to FlightAware. Delta had the fewest with only 15 cancellations.Īt Southwest, it was a very different story. Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines each canceled fewer than 40 flights on Wednesday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. airlines.Five days after severe winter weather wreaked havoc on holiday air travel across the United States, most major carriers are back up and running. Sunday's cancelations account for 28% of the airline's schedule and marks the highest rate by far of the major U.S. However, the union representing Southwest pilots told our partners at The Denver Post that its members were not participating in any type of strike. Social media speculation surrounding the disruption centered on possible labor action taken by Southwest employees due to the recent vaccine mandate imposed by the airline. Please contact the airlines for details about current flight schedules," Kulm wrote in a statement. Some airlines continue to experience scheduling challenges due to aircraft and crews being out of place. Flight delays and cancellations occurred for a few hours Friday afternoon due to widespread severe weather, military training, and limited staffing in one area of the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center. "No FAA air traffic staffing shortages have been reported since Friday. Steve Kulm, an FAA spokesperson, said there were no air traffic staffing shortages reported. We’re asking our Customers whose travel is affected to explore our self-service rebooking options and to check their flight status on ,” an airline spokesperson wrote in Facebook post.ĭenver7 reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration for additional information. “We’re working diligently to accommodate affected Southwest Customers as quickly as possible. The Dallas-based airline said the disruptions were due to air traffic control issues and weather. On Saturday, 50% of Southwest flights out of DIA were either canceled or delayed after the airline grounded more than 800 flights nationwide. More than 100 Southwest flights were canceled out of Denver on Sunday. Nationwide, 355 flights had been canceled as of 8 a.m. Monday, 40 Southwest flights going in or out of DIA were canceled and 53 were delayed, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. DENVER - Southwest Airlines, Denver International Airport’s second-biggest airline, canceled hundreds of flights overnight following more than 1,000 cancelations nationwide on Sunday.Īs of 8 a.m.
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