Passengers across the United States are stranded Tuesday morning after Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights, including trips from BWI Marshall Airport in Baltimore, Maryland.
A dashboard shows canceled flights at the Southwest Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Dec. 21. February 26, 2022 in Los Angeles. (AP/Eugene Garcia)
AP/Eugene Garcia
Hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights have been canceled at BWI. (WTOP/Acacia James)
OMCP/Acacia James
Travelers rummage through mountains of baggage at baggage claim at Chicago Midway International Airport on Monday, Dec. 21. 26, 2022, in Chicago. (AP/Tyler Pasciak LaRivière)
AP/Tyler Pasciak LaRivière
Baggage waits to be claimed after canceled flights at the Southwest Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, December 1. February 26, 2022 in Los Angeles. (AP/Eugene Garcia)
AP/Eugene Garcia
A dashboard shows canceled flights at the Southwest Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Dec. 21. February 26, 2022 in Los Angeles. (AP/Eugene Garcia)
AP/Eugene Garcia
Passengers across the United States were stranded Tuesday morning after Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights, including trips from BWI Marshall Airport in Maryland.
As the new year approaches, Southwest is struggling to recover from scorching winter weather that has left the airline facing operational challenges.
Edward Russell, editor of Airline Weeklytold OMCP that the supplier’s situation was only affected by a number of factors that had a ripple effect on its schedules.
“What’s happened is that the crews and the planes have moved around and the old technology systems in the southwest system that are scheduling those crews and planes and they’ve lost track of where the people work. And that’s what we’re seeing the result of this week,” Russell said.
He added that without knowing the specifics of the system, Southwest’s software issues remained a critical issue for customers.
“Southwest has invested a lot of money in recent years to install new systems, but mainly on the customer-facing side of reservations,” he said. “So clearly the investment hasn’t gone into crewing and programming the planes. And it’s in desperate need.
Dimitri Sotis of WTOP asked Russell on the comments that the airline was “complete and prepared for the holiday weekend which was approaching when bad weather swept across the continent”. While the airline has only begun to recover from these operational challengeshe said the organization just wasn’t ready for the ramifications of the weather.
“It’s the perfect storm of insufficient staff, outdated technology and a little time,” CBS Travel editor Peter Greenberg told WTOP.
Southwest plans to operate on a reduced schedule for the next few days until New Year’s Day, flying about a third of its flights. Addressing long customer wait times while trying to reach agents on their customer service line, Southwest suggested, “If you need to reach us urgently, you can keep calling.
Greenberg said there were weather conditions causing cancellations and delays, but that’s not the major issue here.
“If you look at the stats by airline, you can’t just blame the weather,” Greenberg said.
He said American Airlines had canceled 5% of its flights while Southwest had 70%.
Greenberg said it’s not a problem that will go away quickly.
“You need at least 36 hours to synchronize your flights,” he said.
OMCP reporter’s return flight from Wisconsin canceled
Hear OMCP’s Nick Iannelli talk with presenter Joan Jones about his canceled flight.
WTOP reporter Nick Iannelli is one of thousands of customers experiencing the holiday nightmare first-hand after being stranded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin while visiting his parents for Christmas.
“I am one of those who have just checked. Let’s see if it’s on time, no, it’s cancelled. I haven’t received any notification,” Iannelli said as he prepares for the return to the district.
He had planned to pick up a rental car at 8 a.m., but was told the wait would be at least four more hours before a car was ready.
“It’s normally about an hour and a half flight, it’s going to be about 12 to 13 hours driving,” he added.
Queue for rental cars at Milwaukee Airport right now. A guy just yelled profanities at the cashier and threatened to shoot people here “in the head”. And then he stormed out. Yeah. pic.twitter.com/K0wT9MB19e
—Nick Ianelli (@NickWTOP) Dec. 27, 2022
The airline canceled 2,500 flights on Tuesday alone and admitted failure, pointing to operational challenges.
“On the other hand, we will work to make things right for those we have let down…our sincere apologies for this are just the beginning,” the airline said in a statement, while calling out the impact on the clients. and employees, important and unacceptable.
the The Ministry of Transport called the cancellations unacceptable and plans to check whether the airline is following its customer service plan.
BWI passengers are left with few options
Listen to BWI Marshall’s OMCP Acacia James Report
Brandon Awa had planned to return home to Minnesota so he could work on Wednesday. His flight was canceled and he said the airline told him the next available one wasn’t until Saturday, New Year’s Eve.
“I’m just a little upset because before I came here the weather was really bad and they almost canceled the flight,” Awa said.
Now he said he had no choice but to wait for the next available flight.
Brandon Williams has had three canceled flights since Christmas Eve. Most recently, his 7:30 a.m. return trip to Albany, New York, was canceled on Tuesday.
“There is no bad weather preventing the progress of the ongoing fights,” he said. “It’s just really staffing and not having the proper resources [number of ] people able to get here to work these flights.
Williams said the airline gave her a voucher for a free fight.
“But who’s to say that ultimately when we want to use it, that won’t be undone either?” he said.
The Associated Press and OMCP’s Acacia James contributed to this report.
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