Southwest Airlines scrubs 160 flights after resuming “normal” schedule

Embattled air carrier Southwest Airways again canceled dozens of flights following returning to a extra frequent flying schedule adhering to a wintertime storm-related meltdown previous 7 days.

Southwest as of Monday afternoon had canceled 160, or 3{32bc5e747b31d501df756e0d52c4fc33c2ecc33869222042bcd2be76582ed298}, of its flights, the most of any American airline, according to tracking web-site FlightAware.  One more 422, or 10{32bc5e747b31d501df756e0d52c4fc33c2ecc33869222042bcd2be76582ed298} of its scheduled flights were delayed. The bulk of disrupted flights were being scheduled to fly in or out of Denver Global Airport.

Past 7 days, the Dallas-primarily based carrier canceled hundreds of flights just about every day, disrupting passengers’ holiday break travel strategies. Whilst the airline blamed winter weather conditions for the flight disruptions, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg insisted “the 1000’s of cancellations by Southwest in current days have not been since of the temperature.”

“Other airways that knowledgeable climate-linked cancellations and delays thanks to the wintertime storm recovered comparatively promptly, in contrast to Southwest,” he wrote in a letter to Southwest CEO Robert Jordan.

Southwest scrapped less than 50 flights Friday as it rebounded from one particular of the most serious aviation business breakdowns in latest several years. But with a soar in the quantity of excursions scuttled on Monday, passengers ongoing to gripe on Twitter. 

“@SouthwestAir can you supply a clear update on your baggage reuniting attempts? Around a 7 days now with no updates. The sort is gaslighting and an particularly dishonest endeavor to appease,” just one annoyed purchaser tweeted. 

In a tweet responding to a customer inquiring about lacking baggage, Southwest reported Monday it continues to be “inundated with baggage to reunite with their entrepreneurs.”

A spokesperson for Southwest said the airline is “working a regular program” Monday and that it’s “pleased” with its functionality in excess of the past several times. 

The spokesperson attributed the “small cancelations,” out of 4,000 scheduled  flights, to “weather conditions in numerous places, which include fog before this morning in Chicago, and significant snow in Denver.”

A intense wintertime storm bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain has brought on Nationwide Temperature Services warnings from the Rockies into the higher Mississippi Valley.