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A historic winter storm has tangled holiday travel and brought dangerous conditions to a big chunk of the United States, but no airline has struggled more to navigate the Christmas holiday rush than Southwest Airlines.
Southwest canceled more than 2,800 flights by 6:55 p.m. ET Monday — more than half of its schedule for the day, according to flight tracker FlightAware. The disruptions add to chaos that has left people stranded at airports across the country, many of them with little idea of when they can get home or where their bags are.
The number of canceled flights for Southwest is more than 10 times higher than for Delta, which had the second-most cancelations by a U.S. airline with 265 flights called off. Other airlines have also ordered large-scale cancellations in the past week.Southwest says its crew scheduling process is partly to blame
Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry told NPR the airline’s disruptions are a result of the winter storm’s lingering effects, adding that it hopes to « stabilize and improve its operation » with more favorable weather conditions.
Other issues that have exacerbated the airline’s struggle to accommodate the holiday rush include problems with « connecting flight crews to their schedules, » Perry said. That issue has made it difficult for employees to access crew scheduling services and get reassignments.
Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, called it an incredibly complex task for an airline with a network as vast as Southwest’s to coordinate staffing and scheduling, particularly after weather delays.
