Airlines have canceled thousands of flights in what has become a Christmas nightmare for many passengers as winter storms and staffing issues continue to cause havoc across the U.S.
Most major airlines have canceled or delayed thousands of flights, with Southwest Airlines canceling at least 70% of its flights Monday — more than 2,600 — due to a reported system meltdown. The chaos continued Tuesday, with the airline canceling 62% of flights for the day and canceling 62% of flights on Wednesday.
Southwest is now doing a “reset” by moving some crews and planes around the country without passengers to get them into place and restart operations. Southwest have stopped selling tickets on flights coming up in the next few days. Passengers are being encouraged to buy flights on other airlines to get to their destinations before the new year.
On Christmas Day, 42% of Southwest’s flights were canceled and 48% were delayed, according to data from FlightAware. As of Monday night, data showed that nearly 4,000 flights had been canceled within, into or out of the U.S., while more than 7,700 had been delayed.
Jay McVay with Southwest Airlines said Monday night that “the sheer size of the storm” nationwide affected all major airports.
R&I ~ MJM
GringoViejo