ET, some 2,509 of them are operated by Southwest, according to FlightAware. Of the 2,902 cancellations already logged for Wednesday flights departing within, to or out of the United States as of 9:15 p.m.
ET Wednesday, Southwest had canceled only 39 flights for Friday (compared to almost 2,350 for Thursday), according to flight tracking website FlightAware.Ĭanceled Southwest Airlines flights are displayed on an information board at Oakland International Airport (OAK) on Tuesday. “When you have these big weather events, it always seems to crash,” said Santoro.Īs of 9:15 p.m. The union official said Southwest’s scheduling infrastructure usually works well, but added this is not the first time they have seen a meltdown causing delays. “The weather, you know, was a big event that triggered it, although that’s no excuse for the lack of scheduling IT infrastructure which really caused the problem,” Santoro said.
#Southwest airlines cancellation policy for weather full
Mike Santoro, vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that they have been hearing that the airline is planning for a “mostly full schedule come Friday.” Meanwhile, an official for the union representing Southwest pilots said they expect to have their flight schedules almost back to normal by the end of the work week. The operational emergency – experienced only at Denver, according to the company – is distinct from the issue the company says is to blame for the cascade of cancellations.ĭenver International Airport has announced plans to conduct after-action reviews with the airport’s three major carriers – Frontier, Southwest and United – to learn from the disruptions while the situation is still fresh. The Washington Post cites a Southwest memo related to the operational emergency, dated December 21, in which the airline’s vice president for ground operations declared the condition because of an “unusually high number of absences” of Denver-based ramp employees, including sick calls and personal days for afternoon and evening shifts. The spokesperson could not say whether the staffing policy remains in place or when the special rules ended. The emergency staffing procedures in Denver included requiring a note from a doctor to verify illness after an employee calls out sick, a Southwest spokesperson told CNN Wednesday. Meanwhile, the airline’s decision to enact “operational emergency” staffing procedures last week at the airport in Denver as a massive winter storm bore down hints at a tangle of factors contributing to the airline’s operational crisis. He’s pulling no punches, referring to the situation as a complete “meltdown” of the system. “And after days of trying to operate as much of our full schedule across the busy holiday weekend, we reached a decision point to significantly reduce our flying to catch up.As beleaguered Southwest Airlines continues to sort out stranded passengers, uncollected baggage and out-of-position airplanes, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has taken the airline to task. With our large fleet of airplanes and flight crews out of position in dozens of locations. “Our network is highly complex and the operation of the airline counts on all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews remaining in motion to where they’re planned to go.
“Cities where large numbers of scheduled flights simultaneously froze as record bitter cold brought challenges for all airlines. So, we’re the largest airline in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S.
Southwest Airlines said in a statement that the reason for the airline’s “operational challenges” this holiday season is that the areas in the country with the worst weather are most dependent on the airline.ĬEO Bob Jordan said: “Southwest is the largest carrier in the country, not only because of our value and our values, but because we build our flight schedule around communities, not hubs.
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