Southwest Airlines has canceled about 65 percent of its flights and may be days before it “gets back on track” as holiday travel chaos continues.
The airline led the most cancellations on Monday, at 2,645, according to FlightAware. At Christmas, Southwest canceled 42 percent of its flights, or 1,635.
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan told employees it could be days before the airline resumes normal operations.
“The winter storm was unprecedented across our network,” Jordan said in a statement obtained by the Wall Street Journal. “And we’re getting consequences from that — we’re just trying to get the network back to normal.”
Southwest canceled around 65 percent of its flights Monday
The company’s CEO told employees it could take days to “get back on track” as airlines grapple with staffing issues and the winter storm
Southwest’s volume of cancellations and delays was led by the storm and a lack of preparation.
Southwest has a hub of aircraft in Chicago and Denver, but those two areas were significantly affected by the storm, which caused the planes to freeze.
Union officials claimed that flight attendants and other crew members were stranded in various US states after a series of cancellations.
The airline doesn’t have their exact locations, as stranded workers took matters into their own hands and booked their own accommodations when the company didn’t help in time.
“We have crews who are stranded and planning doesn’t know where they are,” Casey Murray, an airline union representative, told the news agency.
The CEO confirmed that the company’s planning platforms are not advanced enough for the current crisis.
Delta Airlines is the second largest airline in the US with the most cancellations. Around 484 cancellations were reported by the airline on Monday and another 570 delays.
Denver, Atlanta, Chicago and Las Vegas airports experience the most cancellations and delays.
Crew members are scattered and stuck in different areas of the country as more flights are canceled and delayed
Meanwhile, a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to San Francisco was forced to make an emergency landing in Nashville Monday morning with an engine problem as the vacation travel chaos continues.
The flight, with 185 passengers and six crew members on board, landed after the pilot received an engine notification less than an hour after takeoff, a Delta spokesman told DailyMail.com.
The crew decided to land at Nashville International Airport as a precaution. No one was injured in the flight and the plane landed without incident. Passengers waited there for more than three hours for another plane.
Travel chaos swept the US over the bank holiday weekend when a catastrophic storm hit, killing at least 55 people across the US and Canada.
As of Monday, more than 2,519 US flights were canceled — and another 4,309 were delayed, according to Flight Aware.
The flight was flying from Atlanta to San Francisco when the crew received the engine notification (stock image)
On board were about 185 passengers and six crew members. Passengers were dropped off at Nashville International Airport and were delayed more than three hours while waiting for another plane
A passenger on the flight to San Francisco described the incident as “disgusting”.
“Just lost an engine on a @Delta flight from Atlanta,” wrote Mark Katches on Twitter. ‘Haven’t even had my coffee.’
The Delta flight has been added to the chaotic list of issues for travelers trying to be with loved ones on vacation.
Tens of thousands of Americans were hit by a nationwide “bomb cyclone” blizzard last week that grounded flights and closed runways.
Passengers were forced to sleep on the ground as some airports closed their runways “indefinitely,” including in Seattle-Tacoma, where a storm hit on December 23.
Thousands of people were stuck in the airport on Friday and all nearby hotels are booked. The airport’s runways reopened the same day.
Photos showed travelers with blankets sleeping on chairs and other open spaces.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport closed all runways on Friday and canceled all flights due to freezing rain
The storm has caused the cancellation of thousands of flights across the country and ruined Christmas for many Americans
Passengers were forced to sleep on the floor at Seattle Airport after the runways were closed
People were seen sleeping on the floor at Seattle-Tacoma Airport
Some travelers decided to avoid long flight delays and cancellations and took matters into their own hands.
Bridget Schuster, Greg Henry, Abby Radcliffe and Shobi Maynard were stranded at the Tampa, Florida airport on December 22 after their return flight to Cleveland, Ohio was cancelled.
The four, who appeared to be in their 20s, bonded after first meeting at the airport and decided to drive about 20 hours to Ohio rather than wait for the earliest flight on Christmas Eve.
Sharing their adventure on TikTok, they racked up millions of views as they traveled through gas stations and rest stops, blizzards and downpours before making it home.
Greg Henry, Abby Radcliffe, Shobi Maynard and Bridget Schuster drove 20 hours from Tampa to Cleveland to get home for Christmas after their December 22 flight was cancelled
The only stops they made were gas, food and people to use the toilet. Snow angel at the top with a two-hour drive to go
An ongoing winter storm continues to engulf much of the United States, bringing record-breaking temperatures for 200 million Americans, blinding snowstorms, freezing rain and flooding.
The storm, which hit last week, stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the Mexican border.
In response to the inclement weather, President Joe Biden said, “This is a really serious weather warning. Please take this storm very seriously.”
The NWS warned, “In some areas, being outdoors can cause frostbite in minutes.”
Residents and travelers in the western United States, including central California, can expect the storm to last through Wednesday when a cyclone and cold front move inland.
Meanwhile, another 36 inches of snow is forecast in Buffalo through Tuesday.
The city was hit by the bombing storm as the National Guard was deployed to help with the rescue effort. As of Monday afternoon, at least 27 people in New York state had died as a result of the storm.