Southwest are the bastards that ruined our Christmas vacation. We’ll never fly their airline again.
Update (Tuesday):
After canceling almost 3,000 flights on Monday, Southwest Airlines Co. canceled thousands more on Tuesday due to adverse weather conditions and inadequate staffing.
Late Monday night, Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan spoke with WSJ, who said, “In all likelihood, we’ll have another tough day tomorrow as we work our way out of this.” He added: “This is the largest-scale event that I’ve ever seen.”
Flight tracker FlightAware shows as of early Tuesday morning, the Dallas-based carrier canceled 2,510 flights, accounting for 62% of its schedule today.
Southwest released a statement about the continued travel chaos:
“With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our Customers and Employees in a significant way that is unacceptable.”
Southwest’s cancellations prompted the US Department of Transportation to review. The agency was concerned about the airline’s “unacceptable” rate of cancellations, delays, and lack of customer service.
Shares of Southwest fell 3.5% in US premarket trading to $34.81 on the continuation of flight cancelations which may extend through Wednesday.
Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 3,000 flights on Monday, as a historic winter storm and inadequate staffing made for a perfect storm of holiday chaos the day after Christmas.
As of 9PM on Monday, Southwest had canceled 2,882 flights – or 70% of its schedule, according to flightaware.com. Overall, 82% of Southwest flights were either canceled or delayed. By airport, Denver International saw 24% of flights canceled, while 29% were delayed.
Tomorrow is also slated to be a total mess, with over 2,400 Tuesday flights canceled.
Is it time for @USDOT to require Southwest the ability to rebook on other airlines during IROPS?
— Ross Feinstein (@RossFeinstein) December 27, 2022
“Yikes, @SouthwestAir! This is clearly a meltdown,” tweeted former TSA official Ross Feinstein, who’s been monitoring the situation.
.@SouthwestAir has now canceled 60% of their operation tomorrow, Dec. 27.
Today, Dec. 26, they have canceled 70% of their operation, and that number is increasing. https://t.co/TLaJRmE2NU
— Ross Feinstein (@RossFeinstein) December 27, 2022
@cbschicago @nbcchicago @ABC7Chicago @fox32news What is happening with Southwest at MDW? Cancelled flights for no flight staff, no customer service, exorbitant wait times on hold, people stranded, how are people getting their baggage from cancelled flights? Insanity. pic.twitter.com/KVPiIIFy9x
— Mary Harlow (@HarlowCRNA) December 26, 2022
A Southwest official, Chris Perry, told NPR that the disruptions are a result of the ongoing winter storm, and that the company “stabilize and improve its operation” as the weather improves.
From Houston, Texas, and Tampa, Fla., to Cleveland, Ohio, and Denver, Colo., passengers are sharing photos and video of overwhelmed baggage claim areas and long lines at reservation counters. At Southwest, the customer service phone line’s hold times averaged more than two hours, sometimes reaching four hours, according to Colorado Public Radio. -NPR
“I’m okay with these travel situations and fly on by myself when it’s just me, but when my one-year-old has to suffer through it because of ineptitude and mismanagement, that becomes personal,” said Southwest passenger Joshua Caudle, adding “I’m never going to do this with that company again.”
James Baker, a #Southwest passenger, was flying from Sacramento to Buffalo for Christmas. His Buffalo flight ended up being canceled. Now he’s trying to get back home, but has been stuck in Denver for days. @DenverChannel pic.twitter.com/8a9RIE85uD
— Brandon Richard (@BrandonLRichard) December 26, 2022
Big mess at BWI this morning. Over 100 flights cancelled so far this morning. People have been waiting in line at the Southwest ticketing counter for hours. Some people tell me they’ve waited since 2:30 this morning. People are sleeping all over the airport. @wbaltv11 pic.twitter.com/DPiIOdWwJG
— Breana Ross (@breanarossWBAL) December 26, 2022
Other problems include “connecting flight crews to their schedules,” according to Perry, who who said this has made it difficult for employees to participate in crew scheduling services and get reassignments.
A Southwest passenger who says she was attempting to fly from Missouri to Denver said she missed spending Christmas with her family after several delays and cancellations to flights out of the Kansas City International Airport. Despite her being grounded, her luggage was sent to Denver without her, she wrote on Twitter. -NPR
“This is really as bad as it gets for an airline,” said Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, calling it a “full-blown meltdown.”
“We’ve seen this again and again over the course of the last year or so, when airlines really just struggle especially after a storm, but there’s pretty clear skies across the country.”
Southwest Airlines Disaster
Houston Hobby Airport
12/25@SouthwestAir #SouthwestAirlines #Southwest #southweststolechristmas #Houston pic.twitter.com/iO6ummEi6P
— JT (@jtmma567) December 26, 2022
Still stranded at the Vegas airport (24+ hrs, multiple canceled flights) This is the @SouthwestAir rebooking line. It wraps around and then goes all the way to the end of the room. It also doesn't move #Southwest #southweststolechristmas #southwestAir pic.twitter.com/OmCCuqLRn9
— Evan Knupp (@EvanKnupp) December 26, 2022
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From what I’ve seen here in Shitcago Southwest airlines is just another jobs program for illiterate niggers . You want to fly the Greyhound bus of the skies ,don’t be surprised if it’s a hellish experience.
Quit flying !
Lose your “smart” phone.
QUIT paying tax and interest.
CRASH this FAKE ASS economy and lets get a real INSURRECTION started.
So…food fight?
No………..a for real fight.
And remember………..the white zone is loading and unloading only.
A token of my extreme.
Shut up fed
Remember the good old days before America became a third world country?
Barely
They are / were only good by comparison. We were all of us here born on the downhill slide. It’s OK. You can admit it now.
They know something….
Haven’t flown since Homeland Security was created.
Have not missed a thing.
I remember when I was still on the road they used to let me whittle on the flight as long as I kept all my shavings carefully controlled. Whittling. With a knife. On a plane. Good times.
Auntie remembers smoking on Eastern’s late-evening champagne flight from LGA to MIA. Oh yes, lots of drinking. Upon landing get poured into a cab then onto the beach for the party’s continuation. Really good times circa 1974.
Now everything appears to be steerage except for first and biz class and even those are suspect as only a flimsy shower curtain separates the compartments and the well-heeled have to endure the aromas percolating from the rear of the plane.
I flew to Puerto Rico on American airlines in 1980 and 1981. The seats were huge a 3 1/2 hour flight from Kennedy ot San Juan .They even served a hot meal chicken or beef .Now you might get peanuts and blood clots from the tiny seats lol.
I flew in 1984 on Pam Am. Awesome. Huge seats and super friendly staff treated me like royalty. The customer was GOLD. Now the seats are so cramped I would have a panic attack and the staff are rude, fat and classless. It’s gross now. Corporate greed ruins everything.
Yeah the motto today is fuck the paying customer for sure.
Another consequence of the Fauci not-vaxx bioweapon. A reduction in staff due to “unvaxx” quitting and “vaxx” getting sick or dying.
Possibly, we have to read between the lines. Or the employees are pissed
and don’t want to drive to and from the airport in bad weather.
Another Christmas Holiday in a Cube Van with Uncle Buck. This Christmas people thought things would go ok. These People are not Paying attention. They DON”T WANT PEOPLE TRAVELLING. But “I have to travel, I didn’t get a vaxx for nothing.” This is how Christmas Really went. Brought to you by the People Who Care about Your Safety.
1) Not visited with family.
2) Had their Luggage stolen by the “Grinch”. Conveyor Belt Maintenance Eludes us.
3) Spent four or five days sleeping for free on an airport floor.
4) Or On a Via Train with busted Toilets. BYOTP
5) Enjoyed Christmas Calls and Texts with Airline/Travel agents.
6) Ate Vending Machine Food, or No Food at all.
7) After “Beating” the Snowstorm got turned around as Border Crossings were closed.
8) Saw Buffalo give Firefighters shovels while giving looters a break.
9) Got to see a glimpse into what “Gov’t” thinks of its citizens. A better Passport will fix these problems.
10) National Guard “Assisting” by Policing movement of law abiding citizens.
11) Had Loved ones freeze to Death- Still Ongoing.
12) Learned why you turn your water off and drain the pipes before freezing.
13) Fucked around with EVs and Found Out.
14) It was certainly an eventful Christmas so far.
The Boss at work can’t wait to hear his employees water cooler “Tales of Christmas ’22”. Then think to himself, “Boy, best money I ever spent was on my Exempt Private Jet”. How do you like the New Normal?
Amusing and true.
They’re trying to make travel impossible. They want you staying put.
Fin’ my chirruns, Bro!!!