Major U.S. airlines were broadsided by the massive weekend winter storm that swept across large swaths of the country but had largely recovered by Tuesday, except for one.
Problems at Southwest Airlines appeared to snowball after the worst of the storm passed. It cancelled more than 70% of its flights Monday, more than 60% on Tuesday, and warned that it would operate just over a third of its usual schedule in the days ahead to allow crews to get back to where they needed to be.
American, United, Delta and JetBlue, suffered cancellations rates of between none and 2% by Tuesday.
The disparity has triggered a closer look at Southwest operations by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which called the rate of cancellations “disproportionate and unacceptable," and sought to ensure that the Dallas carrier was sticking by its obligations to stranded customers.
The size and severity of the storm created havoc for airlines. Airports were overwhelmed by intense snowfall and drifts. Airlines cancelled as many as 20% of their flights Saturday and Sunday and Buffalo Niagara International Airport, close to the epicenter of the storm, remains closed Tuesday.
Yet it has become clear that Southwest is suffering a disproportionate disruption. Of the approximately 2,950 flight cancellations in the U.S. by midday Tuesday, 2,549 were called off by Southwest.
Traveling Christmas day with my two kids is to Disney World leaving at 645pm.... Flight was delayed over ten different times in small increments finally around 9pm it was cancelled.... Ended up leaving Pittsburgh and driving through the night to Disney World
— Chuck R (@c_rhoads3188) December 27, 2022
At Pittsburgh International Airport, 38 of the 41 flights canceled by midday Tuesday had been on Southwest, according to airport officials. Those cancellations are projected to last for several more days, leaving many upset Southwest customers waiting in long lines while they sought information on rebooking and refunds.
Deanna Day said her son, Azion, was looking forward to spending the holidays with his father in Tampa Bay for the first time in several years. Southwest canceled his flight on Christmas Eve, and Day said she has been on the phone, online and sending emails to the airline ever since, trying to find a way for her son to spend a few days with his father.
Azion must be back in Pittsburgh on Jan. 2 to return to school, so on Tuesday, Day headed to the airport to see if there was a way to get him on a flight.
“I'm just trying to get him out sometime this week to where he can at least bring in a New Year's [holiday] with his father,” she said.
Jean Lawson of Cranberry also was in line, trying to get a $3,500 refund for her family’s vacation trip to Orlando that had been canceled. Her son had planned to play in a basketball tournament there, but their Christmas flight out of Pittsburgh kept getting delayed until it was canceled.
Lawson said she tried to call the airline to obtain her refund but couldn’t get through. Her son’s basketball team was able to find other teams in the Pittsburgh area with which to play during the holiday break, but they missed out on the sunny weather they had been hoping to enjoy in Orlando, she said.
After visiting family in Pittsburgh, Clifford Waugaman said he was trying to get back to San Francisco on Thursday for an important court appointment. But he received an email saying his flight was canceled two days in advance, and he had to call to reschedule.
“We couldn't get through to the number that they gave us, so we had to come here [to the airport] to rebook our flight,” he said.
Waugaman said he didn’t understand why Southwest Airlines was struggling more than other airlines, noting that he’d also experienced a four-hour delay on his incoming flight. Waugaman said he didn’t have the money to pay for another ticket on another airline, and he said he might not fly on Southwest ever again.
Billy Witz, a sports reporter for The New York Times, said he was scheduled to fly Tuesday from Pittsburgh to cover the Fiesta Bowl college football game in Phoenix after visiting his in-laws’ family here. When he went to bed on Monday night, his flight was still scheduled to depart. Just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, he received a text message alerting him that it was canceled.
Witz said he looked for another Southwest flight to Phoenix but found nothing available until Jan. 1. At the last minute, a flight on American Airlines with a layover in Philadelphia popped up, so he bought a separate flight to Phoenix. But his flight to Philadelphia was delayed for two hours, and he was going to miss the connection. So now, he was stuck trying to reschedule or get refunds from two airlines.
“'I’m trying to juggle two reservations here and get a refund on one of them and pay through the nose on whatever's left,” he said, noting that every day he’s not in Phoenix, he misses an opportunity to prepare for the Fiesta Bowl.
Southwest spokesman Jay McVay said at a press conference in Houston that cancellations snowballed as storm systems moved across the country, leaving flight crews and planes out of place.
“So we’ve been chasing our tails, trying to catch up and get back to normal safely, which is our number one priority as quickly as we could,” he said. "And that’s exactly how we ended up where we are today.”
As in Pittsburgh, passengers at other airports also stood in long lines trying to rebook their flights.
The Department of Transportation said on Twitter that it was “concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service.” The tweet said the department would look into whether Southwest could have done anything about the cancellations and whether the airline was complying with its customer service plan.
Bryce Burger and his family were supposed to be on a cruise to Mexico departing from San Diego on Dec. 24, but their flight from Denver was cancelled without warning or notice, he said Tuesday. The flight was rebooked through Burbank, Calif., but that flight was canceled while they sat at the gate.
“Just like my kids’ Christmas sucks. It’s horrible,” Burger said by phone from Salt Lake, where the family decided to drive after giving up the cruise.
The family's luggage is still at the Denver airport, and Burger doesn't know if he can get a refund for the cruise because the flight to California was booked separately.
Burger's call logs show dozens of unsuccessful attempts to reach Southwest during two days. The company did respond to a tweet he sent. He said they offered him and his family each a $250 voucher.
Southwest did not comment immediately on Tuesday and information related to the cancellations was last updated on the company's site Monday.
The president of the union representing Southwest pilots blamed the lack of crews to fly planes on scheduling software written in the 1990s and on management that he said failed to fix things after previous meltdowns, including a major disruption in October 2021.
“There is a lot of frustration because this is so preventable,” said the union official, Capt. Casey Murray. “The airline cannot connect crews to airplanes. I’m concerned about this weekend. I’m concerned about a month from now.”
Thalia Beaty contributed to this story from New York.
