Airlines have canceled thousands of flights in what has become a Christmas nightmare for so many as winter storms and staffing issues continue to wreak havoc across the US
Most major airlines have canceled or delayed thousands of flights, with Southwest Airlines canceling at least 70% of its flights on Monday due to a reported system meltdown. The airline has also canceled 60% of its flights for Tuesday.
On Christmas Day, 42% of Southwest’s flights were canceled and 48% were delayed, according to FlightAware.
James Davis, flight operations specialist for Southwest Airlines, said Monday night that “the sheer size of the storm” affected all major airports nationwide.
“It’s just the fact that this one took off west, swept east and hit almost every one of our biggest airports that put us in a position where we’ve struggled to recover and we’ve had Struggling to get our flight crews and planes where they needed to be. said Davis of William P. Hobby Airport in Houston.
Captain Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said in a statement Monday that the ordeal was “catastrophic”.
“It was a failure at every level at Southwest. Our pilots, our frontline staff have been working under tremendous stress trying to get our passengers from A to B, but we dealt a really bad hand on Southwest. ‘ Murray said in part, adding that their ‘processes’, information technology or infrastructure ‘simply weren’t there to support the operation’.
“And unfortunately, our customers are bearing the brunt,” Murray added.
Angry Southwest customers took to Twitter Monday, sharing their frustration at the delays, cancellations and long waits to speak to customer service representatives.
“Having weathered consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network, the ongoing challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a significant way that is unacceptable,” Southwest said in a statement posted online. “And our sincere apologies for that is just beginning.”
Southwest said it was working to “address the wide-ranging disruption” by repositioning its crew and planes, all of which were in the wrong places.
ABC News spoke to three stranded travelers — one was staying at a Boston airport pending their new flight, one was stranded in Chicago after his flight was canceled and one was traveling with a stranger to get to his Disney Cruise in after flight problems to create Tampa.
Passengers wait at the Delta Air Lines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, December 25, 2022.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
Every traveler blamed the delays on staffing rather than weather.
ABC News reached out to American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta and United to learn how staffing is affecting their current delays and cancellations.
“I wanted to fly home for Christmas,” Laetitia Duler, who flew home to San Francisco from Boston for the holidays, told ABC News. “As soon as I entered the line, they just said, ‘Your flights have been cancelled. Like ‘bye’.”
Eric Jernigan was attempting to fly from Jackson, Mississippi to Tampa, Fla., for a Disney cruise when his Delta flight was canceled due to lack of crew, he told ABC News.
He and five others decided to head to Florida after getting stuck at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport.
The city of Buffalo, New York, imposed a travel ban as snowstorm conditions hit the area.
According to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and local officials, 29 people have died in the state after a massive lake-effect snowstorm.
Buffalo Niagara International Airport said Monday it will be closed through Wednesday as its crews work “around the clock” to get the airport back up and running.
ABC News’ Cherise Rudy contributed to this report.