Dallas-based Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 400 more flights by Sunday morning and postponed nearly 800 more after technology and weather problems caused chaos at the airline on Saturday.
The airline said the cancellations were made proactively “to communicate as soon as possible with our affected customers and crews.” It also said there were no additional cancellations as of Sunday noon.
“We planned for a much better operating environment on Sunday, and we are already in a much better operating environment, compared to the weather and air traffic conditions that we, our customers and other carrier passengers saw on Saturday afternoon and evening,” Southwest said. a permit.
Cancellations and delays represent about a third of the 3,600 Southwest flights scheduled for Sunday.
Other airlines also faced problems from widespread storms in Florida on Saturday, with cancellations totaling more than 1,500 across the United States on Sunday. American Airlines, JetBlue and Fort Worth-based Spirit have canceled at least 200 flights each.
Passengers who complained on social media have reportedly been told that flights may not be available for days.
Southwest’s problems began with “intermittent technical issues after routine nightly maintenance” on Friday night that the company said had been resolved. Florida saw thunderstorms delaying some flights in the early hours of Saturday morning.
But the problems got worse throughout Saturday, eerily similar to other operational meltdowns over the past year that sometimes left the company scrambling for days as the company had trouble getting pilots, flight attendants and planes where they were supposed to be and ready to fly the next day.
“It’s a nightmare that’s being repeated more and more,” Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airline Pilots Association, said in a text message. “Yesterday it started with IT failures and schedules exacerbating problems as recovery takes 4-5 days.”
By the end of Saturday, Southwest had canceled 520 flights, about a seventh of all flights and about half of the company’s flights. Most of those flights were in Florida, where nearly 500 flights from Orlando, Miami, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale were canceled on Saturday across all airlines.
Florida and New York airports were particularly problematic for passengers on Sunday.
American Airlines canceled 363 flights on Saturday and delayed another 620. On Sunday, the airline canceled 251 flights as of 2:30 p.m. and delayed another 233.
“Today, we focus on recovering from yesterday’s Florida weather and what resulted [Air Traffic Control] “Initiatives that have cut back roads, you could see more weather initiatives and air traffic tracking today,” said Yamlik Murillo, an American Airlines spokeswoman.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines canceled 237 flights on Saturday, delaying about 8% of its schedule and a fifth of flights, an unusual weekend for the airline that regularly outperforms others in terms of reliability.
Budget airline Spirit had to cancel about a quarter of its flights, 222 in total, on Saturday and 237 on Sunday. 161 JetBlue flights were canceled on Saturday, but 352 larger flights were canceled on Sunday.
In the past, Southwest has put some of the blame on point-to-point networks because planes and crews can be left out of position because its planes often complete five or six flights before returning to a major base. This contrasts with an airline like American, which tends to fly back and forth more frequently between smaller cities and their hubs in Dallas, Charlotte or Chicago.
Passengers also complained on social media about the difficulty of reaching customer service by phone to rebook flights. Some even pointed out that the technical channels appeared to be overwhelmed with issues.
Becky Patterson from Birmingham, Ala. , was stuck at Orlando Airport for more than eight hours on Saturday with her 10-year-old daughter, a delay that included several calls to Southwest Airlines after pilots stopped loading due to long taxi waits. I finally gave up.
“We got one of our last rental cars and drove home for 9 hours and arrived early this morning,” Patterson said. “The last thing I want is a voucher because we will never fly this company again.”
The flight was delayed 6 times due to the weather and then canceled due to no crew. Tweet embed They didn’t send alerts or even tell the gate agents, didn’t provide any vouchers or hotel assistance, and first tried to rebook me on Tuesday. I know things happen but this was handled poorly.
– Lindsay (@NOLAlexis_9) 3 April 2022
Some Southwest passengers have been told they won’t be able to rebook flights until Monday or later.
It all went through yesterday, the process was brutal but she was lucky and found loyalty to Fort Wayne. It took us 12 hours to get home with all the delays and we have to get our car from Indy but we feel very lucky. good luck to you !!!
– Karen Parker (@Ms_Paaarker) 3 April 2022
