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DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines scrubbed thousands of flights again Tuesday successful the aftermath of the massive wintertime storm that wrecked Christmas question plans crossed the U.S., and the national authorities said it would analyse wherefore the institution lagged truthful acold down different carriers.
A time aft astir U.S. airlines had recovered from the storm, Southwest called disconnected astir 2,600 much flights connected the East Coast by midafternoon. Those flights accounted for much than 80 percent of the 3,000 trips that got canceled nationwide Tuesday, according to tracking work FlightAware.
And the chaos seemed definite to continue. The hose besides scrubbed 2,500 flights for Wednesday and astir 1,200 for Thursday arsenic it tried to reconstruct bid to its mangled schedule.
At airports with large Southwest operations, customers stood successful agelong lines hoping to find a spot connected different flight. Some tried to rent cars to get to their destinations sooner. Others recovered spots to slumber connected the floor. Luggage piled up successful immense heaps.
Conrad Stoll, a 66-year-old retired operation idiosyncratic successful Missouri, planned to alert from Kansas City to Los Angeles for his father’s 90th day enactment until his Southwest formation was canceled aboriginal Tuesday. He said helium won’t get to spot his 88-year-old parent either.
“I went determination successful 2019, and she looked astatine maine and said, ‘I’m not going to spot you again.’” Stoll said. “My sister has been taking attraction of them, and she’s conscionable like, ‘They’re truly losing it truly quick.’”
Stoll hopes to get different accidental to spot his parents successful the spring, erstwhile the upwind is warmer.
The Dallas-based hose had small caller to accidental astir its woes. The institution did not connection immoderate updates connected Tuesday morning, and accusation connected the cancellations was past updated connected the company’s website Monday.
The problems began implicit the play and snowballed Monday, erstwhile Southwest called disconnected much than 70% of its flights.
That was aft the worst of the tempest had passed. The hose said galore pilots and formation attendants were retired of presumption to enactment their flights. Leaders of unions representing Southwest pilots and formation attendants blamed antiquated crew-scheduling bundle and criticized institution management.
Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said the hose failed to hole problems that caused a akin meltdown successful October 2021.
“There is simply a batch of vexation due to the fact that this is truthful preventable,” Murray said. “The hose cannot link crews to airplanes. The hose didn’t adjacent cognize wherever pilots were at.”
Murray said managers resorted this week to asking pilots astatine immoderate airports to study to a cardinal location, wherever they wrote down the names of pilots who were contiguous and forwarded the lists to headquarters.
Lyn Montgomery, president of the Transport Workers Union representing Southwest formation attendants, was scheduled to speech aboriginal Tuesday with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has criticized airlines for erstwhile disruptions and is present taking an involvement successful Southwest’s woes.
“I’m taking it to the highest level — that is however done we are,” said the frustrated Montgomery. “This is simply a precise catastrophic event.”
Buttigieg’s bureau confirmed that helium planned to talk with Montgomery, but declined further remark connected the messiness astatine Southwest.
Late Monday, the Transportation Department tweeted that it would analyse “Southwest’s unacceptable complaint of cancellations” and whether the hose was gathering its ineligible work to assistance stranded customers.
Southwest spokesperson Jay McVay said the cancellations snowballed arsenic tempest systems moved crossed the country, leaving formation crews and planes retired of place.
“So we’ve been chasing our tails, trying to drawback up and get backmost to mean safely, which is our fig 1 priority, arsenic rapidly arsenic we could,” helium told a quality league precocious Monday successful Houston. “And that’s precisely however we ended up wherever we are today.”
Bryce Burger and his household were expected to beryllium connected a cruise to Mexico departing from San Diego connected Dec. 24, but their formation from Denver was canceled without warning. The formation was rebooked done Burbank, California, but that formation was canceled portion they sat astatine the gate.
“Just similar my kids’ Christmas sucks. It’s horrible,” Burger said Tuesday by telephone from Salt Lake City, wherever the household decided to thrust aft giving up the cruise.
The family’s luggage is inactive astatine the Denver airport, and Burger doesn’t cognize if helium tin get a refund for the cruise due to the fact that the formation to California was booked separately.
Burger’s telephone logs amusement dozens of unsuccessful attempts to scope Southwest implicit 2 days. The institution did respond to a tweet helium sent. He said they offered him and his household each a $250 voucher.
The size and severity of the tempest created havoc for galore airlines, though the largest fig of canceled flights Tuesday were astatine airports wherever Southwest is simply a large carrier, including Denver, Chicago Midway, Las Vegas, Baltimore and Dallas.
Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines some canceled astir 10% of their flights, with overmuch smaller cancellation percentages astatine American, Delta, United and JetBlue.
In upstate New York, Buffalo Niagara International Airport — adjacent to the epicenter of the tempest — remained closed Tuesday.
Kristie Smiley planned to instrumentality location to Los Angeles until Southwest canceled her Tuesday flight, truthful she waited astatine the Kansas City airdrome for her parent to prime her up. Southwest can’t enactment her connected different level until Sunday, New Year’s Day. She called different airlines, but the cheapest formation she could find was $4,000.
“Now they are, like, connected it, you cognize — capitalizing connected it,” Smiley said. She inactive doesn’t cognize what to deliberation of Southwest.
“They similar acted similar (Tuesday’s flight) was going to spell until they started saying, ‘Oh, 5 much minutes. Oh, 10 much minutes.’ I’m not definite what’s up with them. It seems a small off.”
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Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth successful Kansas City, Missouri, and Thalia Beaty successful New York contributed to this story.
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