HOUSTON – Frustrated travelers are stuck at airports across the country, with thousands of flights being canceled or delayed due to winter weather conditions. The hardest hit appears to be Southwest Airlines customers, with thousands of canceled flights, according to Flight Aware.
Customers are complaining that they are also forced to wait on the phones between two to four hours before getting a live representative to help them.
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And according to the company’s website, domestic flights aren’t available for booking until after New Year’s Eve, leaving thousands of people stranded.
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Nearly 62% of flights canceled on Tuesday were Southwest Airlines flights.
The airline issued a travel advisory update addressing the high call volumes and busy signals. The statement read:
“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.
And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.
We’re working with Safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning Crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us.
We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity.
This safety-first work is intentional, ongoing, and necessary to return to normal reliability, one that minimizes last-minute inconveniences. We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period. And we’re working to reach to Customers whose travel plans will change with specific information and their available options.
Our Employees and Crews scheduled to work this holiday season are showing up in every single way. We are beyond grateful for that. Our shared goal is to take care of every single Customer with the Hospitality and Heart for which we’re known.
On the other side of this, we’ll work to make things right for those we’ve let down, including our Employees.
With no concern higher than ultimate Safety, the People of Southwest share a goal to take care of each and every Customer. We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize.”
On Monday evening, the U.S. Department of Transportation released a statement on social media saying it was concerned with Southwest’s “unacceptable cancellations and delays.”
USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service. The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.
— TransportationGov (@USDOT) December 27, 2022
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See graph of mass cancelations dating back to January 2011, courtesy of Flight Aware