Most Flights for Disney World & Disneyland Getting Cancelled Due to Southwest Meltdown
Thousands of flights, including those out of and into the Orange County airports in Florida and California that serve Walt Disney World and Disneyland, are getting cancelled. This comes as Southwest Airlines is experiencing a meltdown due to a mixture of winter weather and other issues, leaving travelers stranded coast to coast.
Part of this news is unsurprising, and could have been written about any airport in the country. Over 17,000 flights throughout the United States were cancelled between last Wednesday and Christmas, according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware. This was mainly due to severe winter weather across much of the United States, which brought snow, ice, high winds and bitter cold around the country, grounding flights from coast to coast.
Given the scale and scope of the winter weather–and the fact that many of you are likely living through it–flight delays and cancellations are to be expected. In addition to extreme weather, there have been staffing shortages–also not a huge shock given that it’s one of the peak seasonal sickness times. The interesting and unfortunate element of this story is Southwest’s systemic collapse.
Southwest Airlines canceled another 2,500 flights on December 27, 2022 and warned that mass disruptions will continue throughout the week, a move that comes as other airlines are starting to stabilize and improve operations following a tough few days in the lead-up to Christmas.
By contrast, Southwest has stood out for its ongoing–and worsening–disruptions. On Monday, Southwest cancelled 70% of its schedule and said it plans to fly about only one-third of its schedule “for the next several days” in an effort to recover its collapsing operations. Meanwhile on Monday, Delta Airlines canceled 9% of its domestic flights, United dropped 5%, and American cut less than 1% of its flights. To the extent of these legacy carrier cancellations, most were due to an airport closure in Buffalo, New York due to a winter storm.
Southwest, on the other hand, is preemptively slashing its schedule in an attempt to “reset” its operations, getting planes and crews to where they’re needed. This approach has left passengers stranded at airports for multiple days during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
It’s also one of the worst possible times from a consumer perspective. Never mind being stranded somewhere for New Year’s Eve, although that certainly is not ideal. Those stuck in Central Florida or Southern California (or almost anywhere, for that matter) cannot simply book a cheap hotel room while waiting for their flight to be rescheduled. Hotel occupancy is incredibly high right now, and prices are at peak season highs. Those needing to extend a stay at Walt Disney World or Disneyland might have no such luck in doing so–or might be met with astronomical nightly rates.
Reports and video from on the ground at Orlando International Airport (MCO) paint a grim picture. Lengthy lines (a colossal understatement) for customer service, packed seating areas with passengers camped out for the long haul, and overwhelmed agents.
Fox 35 Orlando‘s Amy Kaufeldt reported that Southwest Airlines announced over the PA system at MCO that if you have a cancelled flight, they won’t be able to get you out until New Year’s Eve at the earliest. It’s currently Tuesday–Saturday is several days away.
None of this is hyperbole, relevant only to a small minority of travelers who have the misfortune of their flights being cancelled. Orlando is an operating base for Southwest, and it’s far and away the largest carrier at MCO by volume. Intuitively, this makes sense–Southwest is one of the most beloved airlines among families, and MCO is the gateway to Walt Disney World.
Thus far on Tuesday, over 70% of Southwest’s flights into and out of MCO have been cancelled. (The day is still young.) There is no apparent pattern to the cities with flights being cancelled–they’re fairly evenly distributed throughout the country.
If it’s possible, the situation is somehow worse in Southern California. KTLA is reporting that Southwest has canceled all departing flights from Los Angeles area airports until December 31, 2022. This includes Los Angeles International (LAX), Hollywood Burbank (BUR), Ontario (ONT), Long Beach (LGB), and the John Wayne Airport (SNA). The situation is similar in San Diego.
Per KTLA, it’s unclear if arriving Southern California flights were also affected. However, we have (had) family flying into SNA from Indianapolis, and they’re flight from Dallas was cancelled, with no options to rebook until January 1, 2023. If that’s the case for Southwest’s main hub to LAX (perhaps the best-case pairing of airports for availability), it’s hard to imagine that the situation is much better for other routes.
As with MCO, Southwest is far and away the largest carrier at SNA, the other Orange County’s airport that serves as the gateway to Disneyland. Given the above, many travelers have reportedly opted to rent cars and attempt driving home–or to other airports outside of Southern California.
Southwest has a warning on its website indicating that its phone system is very busy due to high demand and the airline is experiencing “irregular operations.” Customers are advised to use the self-service tools to cancel or rebook, but from what we’ve seen firsthand and heard, those are not always working.
Southwest has also advised that a system-wide waiver on changes and cancellations is in place through January 2, 2023. Southwest is also requesting that those who don’t have travel plans in the next 72 hours not call at this time. According to the airline, this is due to Winter Storm Elliott. However, blaming the weather doesn’t really pass the smell test at this point. When American Airlines (hardly an exemplar of the aviation industry) is doing just fine on that front, you know things are uniquely bad for Southwest.
According to multiple reports from employees on social media, the Southwest Airlines meltdown is largely being driven by antiquated crew scheduling software. The system assumes the location of each crew member based on an automated flow, rather than actually working with real-time location data. In the event of a flight disruption, crew members call Southwest’s scheduling phone line and they make manual adjustments.
Due to the winter weather, Southwest has lost track of almost every flight crew member. The only way to solve this is for each to individually call scheduling to update their real-time location. As with the customer service phone lines, the scheduling line is swamped, with crew members on hold for countless hours—or unable to get through, period—attempting to update their location.
While we obviously cannot independently corroborate this, there have been several reports from flight attendants and pilots on the Southwest and aviation subreddits, as well as Twitter. This would certainly explain why Southwest is still cancelling flights, as well as why the problem has gotten worse after the winter weather, and why the “reset” is needed.
Southwest’s operational collapse is already drawing scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Transportation as other airlines have recovered from severe winter weather. “USDOT is concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays, as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay,” the department said in a statement.
“As more information becomes available, the department will closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan, as well as all other pertinent DOT rules.”
While some might be apprehensive about government involvement, it is worth noting that many other countries offer greater consumer protections for travelers. It’s hardly a new or novel idea. Almost across the board, our experiences with international carriers–even some budget ones–have been better than domestic carriers. Delta is far and away our favorite U.S. airline, but it’s mediocre by international standards.
Southwest also released the following statement:
With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our Customers and Employees in a significant way that is unacceptable. And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.
We’re working with Safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning Crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us.
We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. These operational conditions forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity.
This safety-first work is intentional, ongoing, and necessary to return to normal reliability, one that minimizes last-minute inconveniences. As we continue the work to recover our operation, we have made the decision to continue operating a reduced schedule by flying roughly one third of our schedule for the next several days. And we’re working to reach Customers whose travel plans will change to offer specific information and available options, also available at Southwest.com/traveldisruption.
Our Employees and Crews scheduled to work this holiday season are showing up in every single way. We are beyond grateful for that. Our shared goal is to take care of every single Customer with the Hospitality and Heart for which we’re known.
On the other side of this, we’ll work to make things right for those we’ve let down, including our Employees. With no concern higher than ultimate Safety, the People of Southwest share a goal to take care of each and every Customer. We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize.
This statement talks a good game, but rings hollow. For one thing, it emphasizes safety several times, and it’s unclear how that’s really relevant at this point. Are they suggesting that it’s unsafe to fly in the aftermath of the winter storm? Should we be thanking Southwest that they aren’t following the lead of Delta, United, and American in not cancelling their flights?! If anything, I would think the greater risk this time of year is being crammed into an airport with other travelers, some of whom are almost certainly sick.
Second, this and Southwest’s consumer-facing website still put most of the blame on winter weather, which is likely a strategy to avoid paying for the hotels and meals of stranded travelers. Again, other carriers are back to normal at this point–it’s not like there are snow clouds parked over Southwest’s planes.
This is not the first or even second time in the last year-plus that Southwest has experienced issues that were disproportionate to other airlines. In Fall 2021, the airline had a 4-day meltdown that caused in significant delays and cancellations, and resulted in a $75 million revenue hit. Another around this same time last year also left Southwest scrambling to recover operations even as other airlines had stabilized.
On other prior occasions, Southwest initially blamed the weather before shifting to another formidable foe: technology. Its computer, phone, and aging resource management systems have all received their share of the blame. This might lead one to wonder: why hasn’t this been fixed if it’s a known problem?
If the problem is in the midst of being addressed, why not use stopgap measures to build extra slack into the system? At the very least, why not make interline and codeshare agreements with other carriers to mitigate the risk of future meltdowns?
Ultimately, we have nothing against Southwest and still use the airline from time to time when it has significantly cheaper airfare than Delta or United (our preferred domestic carriers). With that said, I would no longer fly Southwest during any near-peak travel time, and certainly not around major holidays like Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, etc. They have demonstrated time and time again a willingness to push their system to its breaking point, and an unwillingness to take measures to mitigate the fallout from such instances.
When there’s bandwidth in the system and operations are normal, Southwest is a good airline. It’s totally understandable why so many families love it. Conversely, when it’s bad, it’s really bad. These are not problems that travelers, especially knowledgeable ones, flying with the legacy carriers have (see What to Do If Your Flight is Cancelled? for our recovery advice). To be sure, we’ve had issues over the years with Delta and United, but have seldom been stranded one night–usually, we are rebooked within a matter of hours on another airline when worst comes to worst.
One piece of advice we will offer here if you’re impacted by the Southwest meltdown is to be polite to the company’s employees. The gate agent or customer service rep with whom you’re speaking almost certainly did not make the decision to cancel flights, nor do they have any control over the outdated technology the company uses. Many of these employees have been pushed to their breaking point, and being rude only makes the situation worse. On a more basic level, it’s always best to err on the side of courtesy and compassion, even if the circumstances are utterly maddening.
That’s not to say the Southwest’s total collapse during peak holiday travel is acceptable. It absolutely is not. This should not have happened once, let alone multiple times in the last year-plus. I’m sure many people who will defend Southwest with their positive experiences, and the company’s track record is still strong most of the time. However, I’m also sure if you polled only those stuck at MCO or SNA today–people who won’t be able to get home until several days from now at the earliest–there would be a high percentage who will never fly Southwest again. To each their own, but this type of thing is happening with Southwest far too often for my liking. They aren’t there yet, but they are close to entering Frontier or Spirit territory as another airline we won’t fly.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you impacted by Southwest’s meltdown? Any reports ‘on the ground’ at MCO, SNA, or other airports to share? Have you experienced any flight cancellations or noteworthy delays while traveling during the holiday season or when there’s winter weather? What’s your strategy to reduce the likelihood of travel disruptions? Any other tips or anecdotal advice/experiences for addressing and overcoming cancellations that might arise? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We were supposed to leave from Quebec, Qc, Canada on Dec. 26th. Air Canada cancelled our 2 flights to Orlando due to crew constraints on short notice. They rescheduled the flights… on Dec 31st (our departure date was planned on Jan. 2nd). We had to cancel our long awaited trip with my sister at Walt Disney World . I have not recovered from it yet..luggages still unpacked in the living room
Tom , I agree that SWA employees are usually much friendlier than others. When we got delayed at MCO over the pickle fork crisis a few years ago, i politely asked the gate agent about what they were doing to help people delayed and she printed me a voucher for a hundred bucks or so. Then I had also already sent customer service an email and they sent me another voucher for like $200. So I got a free flight out of it. This response form the CEO is a joke though. Disingenuous, certainly. Chapek could’ve come off better! That release reads like the WH press secretary wrote, complete and utter nonsense! I’ve flown on SW many, many times and their schedules build in so much fluff time to make up for slop so they can claim a high number of on-time departures and arrivals. I went for years not checking a bag because of the ridiculously long waits there were at ELP to get a bag after you landed. But these days, where you can’t carry even a normal pocketknife through security or simple tools and the current state of crime in every city, I’m checking a bag. SWA doesn’t screw, I mean charge you, for checked bags like the others do. Their open seating is fine if you set an alarm to check in immediately exactly 24 hours before your flight, and is great for families who want to sit together.
But this is absolutely egregious. I see the DOT is allegedly going to poke around. Maybe this time the govt panel will actually find some real malicious doings and blame the correct instigators. Who knows? The only way things will be fixed is with travelers’ wallets making the decisions if corporate won’t get it right. Something like this could easily drive an airline out of business…
This is a classic case of an enterprise company not wanting to shell out money to fix an outdated piece of software. This issue happens at any larger company–no one wants to be the exec that proposes spending money on something that doesn’t generate money. And here we have the consequences. Airlines are not only required to reimburse hotel expenses, but also owe you spending money to replace necessary items (clothes, toiletries, etc.) if they are holding or have lost your luggage. They are going to lose an insane amounts of money this week. Hopefully that will be motivation to fix their flight crew tracking systems.
Let’s not forget how they treated their employees during Covid. How many were forced to quit, how many retired early because of all the BS they were going through. Remember the so-called pilot stike. The time everyone called in sick. Understaffed for sure. Get ready people, the problems and policies from the past 2 years are about to bite us all in the ass.
That’s an understatement!
When we fly SWA, we only take the very first flight out. We usually fly out of MDW to wherever we are going and most flights are direct – but I will only fly the first flight out. When it comes to holiday travel, we don’t ever travel anywhere in the continental US, if we travel at all during the holidays so SWA isn’t usually an option. We love the airline but after the issues they’ve had since the beginning of the pandemic – I’m getting wary of using them. I hope everyone gets home in a timely manner and I hope SWA owns up to their issues and reimburses all of their stranded passengers for extra costs incurred because of them.
First flight, as in 530 in the buttcrack of dawn? No way! It would have to be almost free for me to ever consider that! That’s sleeping time… I see those crazy early flights looking at travel for work, but won’t do that for work either. Normal business hours, unless it’s so I can go do side trips to see cool stuff, like the September 11 Memorial in Manhattan we did week before last. I tell the people I work with they can choose a different flight than me if they want to. Some folks think they need to get to the airport 3 hours early and that’s fine…for them. One of my guys wants to always drive instead of flying for multiple reasons even with the mask requirements finally squashed, so we try to work that out too.
We were in Disney World last week and scheduled to fly home on Friday evening. Flight got delayed multiple times and then canceled. Luckily, I was standing right by the gate agent when the announcement was made and got rescheduled to Saturday night, but that flight was canceled as well. We feel fortunate that our Monday morning flight went as scheduled, but we missed Christmas at home. We feel very lucky that we got a room at a nearby hotel that was very accommodating to us, but the whole thing was very stressful. We spent 18 hours in MCO over the weekend. I talked to several Southwest pilots and flight attendants and they verified what was stated in the article as the issue. They were beyond frustrated as well. The lines and the number of people having to sleep at the airport were ridiculous, and we heard about/saw flight attendants who were sitting in hotel lobbies because they were not assisted in getting a room when they got stranded. They were only told they could expense the hotel costs if they found a room themselves. We have been loyal Southwest customers and they are the only nonstop carrier to Orlando from our city, but I am reluctant to fly them again, especially at the holidays which is when we typically travel. I feel for everyone affected by this, and am frustrated for all of us who had to add quite a bit of expense to our trips due to Southwest’s ineptitude.
Glad you made it home! We were scheduled to fly out of MCO on Saturday night; our flight was cancelled right before we were about to check our bags, so at least we didn’t lose those. After spending an hour on our phones in line trying to make backup plans and guessing we were at least 2 hours from talking to an agent, we rented a car and drove home to Colorado – took 51 hours, and we got to see 3 sets of cousins along the way. Probably our most memorable Christmas ever.
SW is saying they will reimburse reasonable alternative travel costs, so I am putting that request together.
I’m getting ready to make that request myself. It’s great that you made it a memorable drive home!
I will still fly Southwest until other airlines stop charging the ridiculous high baggage fees. I do not like paying an extra $120+ for my families luggage EACH way. Plus, for us, Southwest prices have almost always been a lot better than Delta etc. We now try not to fly during Christmas/New Years because this has happened many times in the past, we have been stuck a few times for 2 to 3 extra days by airlines other than Southwest. This is by far the worst that I have heard of, but we have to watch what we ask for because Southwest may raise rates and add baggage fees to be equal with the other big airlines and I would rather that not to happen. We are heading north from Florida tomorrow and we are driving the 15 hours to Michigan to avoid all the airport mess and to save money.
I am in the Midwest visiting family. Our flight back to Phoenix scheduled for tomorrow morning has been canceled. I am a nurse and need to be back at work on Thursday to work the New Year’s holiday weekend. The earliest flight they are offering is next week Monday, which would make me miss 48 hours of work. That is a huge financial blow to me! I have looked at four other airports, and finally found a flight on Delta, but they are charging $800 per ticket, and I have a 3 hour drive to get to that airport.
We chose Southwest so we could take an extra suitcase for gifts. Ughhh! Lesson learned!
My daughter and her husband had flights booked on Southwest tomorrow (12/28) to join us at WDW (we and other members of our family arrived on Christmas Day). She texted me this morning that all flights out of Austin (where we live) AND Houston AND San Antonio are cancelled for the next three days. The other airlines are taking advantage of the situation and price gouging — one way Main Cabin tickets on American for tomorrow were going for $2,400. So, they cancelled the dog walker, their WDW tickets via Undercover Tourist, and claimed a refund on their Southwest tickets today. All in all, they’re better off than many who are stranded away from home, but we’re a little heartbroken that they didn’t make it for the family Christmas that we’ve had planned since June. And…to add insult to injury, I had an email in my inbox from Southwest today which has this subject line: “Get your low fare to Orlando. Getaways don’t book themselves!”
Southwest is having problems now, but in September I was booked on a Delta flight, then one of its partners for the connection to a very small airport…we were delayed over night, because the DOOR FELL OFF !!! Delta was very good, we all had hotel rooms, travel arrangements, and food vouchers before we got to customer service. They even gave us a travel size shampoo, toothbrush etc. bag.
Then on the way home on American, we were actually on the plane, but we had no captain! Yes this was 2 days after the hurricane in Orlando, but I was flying direct from Dallas to Columbus, Ohio. American dropped the ball. Our flight was delayed by 15vhours and the only hotel that was available was 50 miles away and it was a Red Roof Inn. I stayed in the Minute Hotel in airport, felt safer behind a locked door and didn’t have to go anywhere. I wa sonly reimbursed about half of what I spent.
So no airlines is perfect and I’m sorry people were inconvenienced.
No intention to defend SWA but to add a slightly different possible reason for the continued cancellations is my experience with them. Several years ago I was booked on SWA Newark to Orlando and they cancelled the evening before my morning flight due to ‘severe rain delays’. Apparently they lost the runway times for the next day so that the legacy airlines could catch up their flights first. I booked American that same evening and got to Disney early rather than 2 days late.
We flew on Southwest from Chicago-Midway last night to JAX, Florida. Our experience was not bad as many others, and my heart truly goes out to them. We dealt with a canceled flight on 12/25, a 6-hour delay on the next day’s reschedule, lots of worrying, and a million contingency plans, but we finally got home. (Note that our bags are still on the tarmac at MDW and should arrive in a week or so *fun times*)
We saw hundreds of people in lines trying to get re-booked. The local news was there too. TSA was completely empty with only us and 1 other person, so that was a positive.
When we found a free gate agent to get a tag for our stroller, she broke down crying. She was completely overwhelmed. It was heartbreaking. The staff was doing their best to smile and stay positive. I can’t even imagine working with that level of stress.
I love Southwest airlines. They are by and large my favorite because they are so nice. I have had *many* rude AA flight attendants, but never Southwest. And you know what? The on-the-ground-Southwest people are still nice, even with this disaster that wasn’t their fault.
At the top, Southwest leadership screwed up big time. I hope that those people are held accountable. (Can Bob Iger just come run SW too?!)
My heart goes out to all of those folks stranded without luggage, sleeping in the airport, or paying out of pocket for accommodations. I hope you all get home safely and quickly.
We had a similar experience and feel lucky to have made it home “only” 2 days later than planned. But the agents we encountered at MCO were doing their absolute best in difficult circumstances. I’m hopeful that this reset will get SWA back on track.
We’ve always flown Southwest and never had a problem – until this weekend. Honestly I can forgive cancelled flights, but when they announced three hours after the flight was cancelled that they weren’t going to give anybody’s luggage back that’s when I got ticked. They told everyone that they could pick it up at their destination, you know, the destination they had reneged on getting people to. Their poor employees – 11:30 PM on Christmas Eve, not being told *anything* by their superiors or offered any support whatsoever, one was still kind enough to go searching thru the thousands of bags out on the tarmac to find the one I’d foolishly put my son’s meds in because I’d never had any trouble at all on the dozens of times I’d flown Southwest, and with the storm over by that point had thought there was no reason my flight would get cancelled. My husband slipped him a bill that I hope he used to get a very stiff drink once that undoubtedly nightmare shift was over. We rented a car and drove the 18 hours home, and good thing or we’d still be stuck there. So bless their front line employees, but I certainly hope that some C-level folks at Southwest find themselves jobless this New Year over this fiasco.
My family and I are supposed to fly to MCO from LAX with a stop in DAL using Southwest on 1/9. Do you think we should preemptively cancel our tickets and go with someone else? Or do you think there’s a good chance SWA will get their stuff together by then?
Unless there’s another big winter storm that disrupts scheduling between now and then, I’d expect your trip not to be impacted. That’s a long time to flush out the current issues, and you’d almost certainly be paying a huge premium for a relatively last-minute booking on another airline.
I’m taking heart from Tom’s reply, as I also am flying on 1/9 down to MCO, from up here in Connecticutt. Reading this made me all anxious about my trip!
Thanks Tom! I think that’s solid advice.
The ONLY time I flew Southwest, there were maintenance delays and missed connections BOTH WAYS. This was before the pandemic, and it wasn’t during a peak travel season! For my trouble, they gave me a voucher that I was never going to be able to use. I would only fly Southwest if they were the ONLY option for my destination. Also, DIRECT FLIGHTS ONLY from now on! Connecting flights are just one more potential point of failure.
There was a really good thread on Reddit about the scheduling meltdown, but it has since been deleted. Here’s another, not quite as thorough, but covers the basics: https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthwestAirlines/comments/zw6upo/hey_guys_swa_pilot_with_a_little_information/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
My mom’s flight into Fort Lauderdale on Thursday was just cancelled by SWA. Flights were disappearing before my eyes while I searched for a new one. I was able to get her a ticket on United for $1,000 more than her original ticket, and we were happy to get it so she doesn’t have to miss her cruise. We’re very loyal SWA fliers, but our confidence in them has taken a huge hit. When the plan repeatedly fails, it’s time for a new plan.
“This might lead one to wonder: why hasn’t this been fixed if it’s a known problem?”
My day job involves working on back end infrastructure that everyone relies on when they fly, even though they don’t know it exists. We interface with the airlines and their service providers (e.g. Sabre, Amadeus, etc.) on a somewhat regular basis. I’ve been doing this work for around 10 years now. I could count on one hand when we’ve been able to drive a change that required the airlines investing in improvements…unless it was painfully obvious how it directly impacted their bottom line. In my experience, the airlines are pre-dispositioned to leave well enough alone. I don’t know why Southwest is struggling worse than the others, but I don’t find any of it very surprising.
My heart goes out to those families stuck at the end of their vacation or those who can’t get there. That’s a tough situation to manage with the younger ones.
“…unless it was painfully obvious how it directly impacted their bottom line.”
Southwest reached that point in Fall 2021, over a year ago. Their CEO was all over CNBC and Bloomberg, promising to ‘invest in the future and make sure this doesn’t happen again.’ (I don’t recall the exact language, but the fact that he was speaking on those networks speaks for itself.)
It’s understandable that whatever solution would take a while to develop and implement, but there’s not even any indication that any meaningful changes are in progress.
(Based on scattered reports from social media, which I cannot corroborate but that do paint a pretty consistent picture, it sounds like the underlying issue here is Southwest’s antiquated employee scheduling system. They’ve lost track of the locations of crew, and the only way to update the airline is by calling in…but that cannot happen due to the phone lines being jammed.)
Finally, thanks for the industry insight–very interesting!
As I said in the other post, Southwest has had several operational meltdowns recently but this one is even worse. They evidently didn’t learn their lessons and heads should roll. The entire leadership of the airline needs to go. Failures of this kind are operational and not circumstantial. I feel bad for the rank and file service employees that have to deal with the customers and I feel even worse for the people Southwest put the screws to again.
We are victim to Southwest operational meltdown as of 10pm last night. We were due to fly out of PGH at 5am eastern today to WDW and got cancelled with no recourse or options to rebook either from PGH, Philly , or Cleveland or Columbus. Making the 18hr drive to Orlando was the only option. Weather may have been a contributing factor to cancelled flights however for Southwest this is an operational issue with no communications plan for their customers. I. Ever even received a cancellation notice until hours after I saw an update on the flight. They have a lot of brand recognition to fix before flying them again there’s just too much at stake.