Southwest Airlines flights canceled at Midway leaving thousands of travelers stranded due to Winter Storm Elliott - WLS-TV

1 year ago 54

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights nationwide Monday, leaving travelers stranded astatine Midway airdrome aft the Christmas holiday.

What tin I bash if my formation is canceled, delayed? How to hole for apt 2022 vacation question mess

Southwest had canceled 70% of their full Monday flights by 7 p.m. CT, and person already canceled 60% of their flights connected Tuesday, ABC News reports. Phone lines person crashed owed to the sheer measurement of calls and the airline's website and app are moving lone intermittently.

By contrast, American Airlines, which besides has a hub successful Chicago, has lone canceled 12 flights Monday and 9 Tuesday.

It is expected that it volition instrumentality a week oregon much to retrieve from each of the backlog.

Luggage continued to heap up astatine Midway's baggage claim, wherever hundreds of bags signifier a oversea of luggage arsenic acold arsenic the oculus tin see. But fewer are determination to retrieve them. Bags are flying without their owners, and person been for days.

"Guess I should person conscionable had a backpack 'cause present they're telling maine the formation got canceled due to the fact that they said there's not capable help, not capable stewardesses to negociate a afloat flight. Now we're trying to retrieve our luggage but they're saying our luggage is going to the destination, to Raleigh Durham without us," said John Ruh, whose formation was canceled.

"I near New Orleans 2 and a fractional days ago. Cancelled. Delayed. Cancelled. Delayed. Cancelled," said Carolyn Irving, who was trying to find her bags. "Hopefully I tin find my luggage due to the fact that medicine is successful it. Gifts are successful it. But you call, nobody's picking up."

Unlike different airlines, Southwest often flies constituent to point. Right present their planes are scattered successful each the incorrect places aft past weeks' wintertime storm, which impacted not conscionable their Midway hub but Denver arsenic well.

Southwest skipper and national president Casey Murray told ABC News the concern was "catastrophic."

"It's been a nonaccomplishment astatine each level astatine Southwest. Our pilots, our beforehand enactment employees person worked nether tremendous accent to effort to get our passengers from A to B, but we were dealt a truly atrocious manus arsenic acold arsenic Southwest is concerned," Murray said.

The formation attendant national besides released a statement, saying successful part, "Southwest Airlines has failed its employees erstwhile again, the effect of years of refusal to modernize operations, notes TWU Local 556, the national of Southwest Airlines formation attendants. And this time, it's connected Christmas."

Southwest issued a connection addressing the situation, penning successful part, "With consecutive days of utmost wintertime upwind crossed our web down us, continuing challenges are impacting our Customers and Employees successful a important mode that is unacceptable.

"And our heartfelt apologies for this are conscionable beginning.

"We're moving with Safety astatine the forefront to urgently code wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the hose and repositioning Crews and our fleet yet to champion service each who program to question with us."

But according to 1 manufacture expert, passengers contiguous whitethorn beryllium entitled to much than that.

"Make definite you prevention those receipts due to the fact that you're going to privation to taxable those to Southwest aft the information to spot astir getting your hotel, your meal, your taxi thrust reimbursed, particularly due to the fact that it seems arsenic though this is not a question of cancellations that is weather-related the mode it was earlier successful the week," said Scott Kelly of Scott's Cheap Flights.

The lines to cheque your container Monday greeting were truthful long, Menda Speckels and her kids missed their formation backmost to Texas.

"We got present astatine 3:30 for a 5:20 flight. And the lines were conscionable insane," she said.

It's been a nightmare for folks traveling implicit the Christmas holiday.

Hundreds of flights canceled each time retired of O'Hare and Midway. Thousands, canceled oregon delayed nationwide.

And Monday is sadly nary different.

"Got stuck here," Ayana Ortiz said. "Flight got canceled truthful present we're conscionable hanging astir waiting to spot if they volition re-book us."

Ortiz woke up early, got present astatine 3:45 a.m. and recovered retired their formation was cancelled.

"A small frustrating," she said. "We chose the aboriginal formation successful bid to get backmost sooner and get successful bed. But it didn't crook retired that way."

Perhaps successful worst shape, though, is Anna Kang. She's been trying to alert to San Diego since Sunday day retired of O'Hare.

"Two flights got canceled," she said. "I waited successful enactment for astir an hr and a fractional to publication different formation astatine the different airport. So I went from O'Hare to Midway."

Only to person her formation cancelled present astatine Midway Sunday night, too.

"We recovered that retired astatine astir 1 o'clock this morning," Kang said. "So I've been up each nighttime since yesterday. Here? Here. I've been present since yesterday astir 8 p.m. past night."

Hit peculiarly hard was Southwest Airlines. That's evident astatine Midway, with Southwest seeing the longest lines astatine ticketing.

Frustrated passengers are present resorting to Plan B.

"So present we're driving backmost to Austin," Speckels said. "Seventeen hours. I was capable to find a rental car. There was not many, but I was capable to find one. So we're going to commencement backmost present successful a infinitesimal I guess. Because determination were conscionable nary flights? No. None astatine all."

The Chicago Department of Aviation released a connection saying, "At the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA), the highest precedence is to make a safe, unafraid and businesslike situation for passengers and employees.

"With the enactment of Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and CDA Commissioner Jamie L.Rhee, CDA staff, and partners astatine the airlines and the FAA, Chicago's airports enactment accrued rider measurement implicit the vacation question period.

"Passengers should cheque formation presumption with their hose successful beforehand of coming to the airports."