Southwest cancels 70% of its flights as travelers try to get home
NBCMAR 16 2023
Southwest’s cancellation total is 10 times more than the airline with the second-most cancellations, so obviously it’s doing something drastically wrong. The skies have cleared since the storm, yet Southwest continues to cancel flights at a high rate. This is a total meltdown and, if Southwest can’t get its act together, maybe regulators can get the carrier in line.
Southwest has done plenty wrong in terms of overzealous scheduling and under-investing in operations, but these cancellations are equally attributable to bad luck. Two of its biggest hubs – Chicago Midway and Denver International Airport – were hardest hit by the storm, and staffing has been challenged by the so-called “tripledemic” (COVID, flu, and RSV). Combine that with the holiday rush, and Southwest has faced an unprecedented challenge to its service.