Several factors, including the mess that this week’s weather has created, have combined to bring Southwest Airlines into a nearly full-stop operational meltdown.
Besides the weather, they have personnel issues in several cities, the reservation system has collapsed under the rebooking load, and the aircraft and crew scheduling systems are completely overloaded. 10’s of thousands of people across the country are stuck….
As a result, Southwest will halt almost ALL of it’s flights on Tuesday and Wednesday to reser the people and airplanes required to make the airline work properly.
Southwest has canceled thousands of flights since the 22nd, and has declared an emergency status that suspends several union work rules, in an attempt to get back on track.
Passengers in some cities are being told they can’t even rebook a canceled flight until Dec31st, AT THE Earliest!
A visual representation of the disaster that is air travel at the moment. A Southwest Airlines rep just said over the intercom that bags are heading to final destination, even if the flight they were scheduled on is cancelled. pic.twitter.com/xV21IX1rcm
— Rob Harris (@robharristv) December 26, 2022
This is INSANE!!! Only 4 airborne aircraft on the entire West Coast for Southwest Airlines @ 2100PST (9:00PM). pic.twitter.com/F39e23JuKJ
— JAKE WELTY (@avgeekjake) December 27, 2022
Short of a bankruptcy shutdown or 9/11, I cannot remember this ever happening in my 30+ years in the aviation business!
h/t Flying Elvii