Aircraft are being de-iced at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee
Reuters
Flight cancellations eased further on Monday, but disruption attributable to harsh winter weather across the US continued into the top of the vacation weekend.
Airlines have canceled greater than 17,000 U.S. flights since Wednesday, according to FlightAware, as storms brought snow, ice, high winds and bitter cold across the country, derailing coast-to-coast air travel. These conditions slowed down ground crews, who faced harsh conditions at airports.
Carriers are likely to discuss disruption costs intimately once they submit results next month, if not sooner.
Southwest Airlines was particularly affected by winter storms throughout the holiday season, in addition to other issues, including unexpected fog in San Diego and staff shortages at a fuel retailer in Denver, the carrier’s chief operating officer told staff.
Southwest has been actively canceling many flights in an effort to stabilize its operations, chief operating officer Andrew Watterson said. Between Wednesday and Saturday, a few quarter of Southwest’s flights were canceled and two-thirds delayed, according to FlightAware.
The airline apologized to staff for the chaos that left many struggling to access crew planning services, making it difficult to reassign or make other changes, in addition to getting hotel rooms. Southwest also offered holiday stewards extra pay.
“A part of what we’re affected by is a scarcity of tools,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a message to staff on Sunday. “We talked rather a lot about modernizing operations and the necessity to do it. Crew planning is certainly one of the places we want to put money into. We want to give you the option to create solutions faster.”
Airlines often cancel flights proactively during bad weather to avoid aircraft, crews, and customers being stranded, which may hinder storm recovery.
Carriers have also scheduled smaller flight schedules for Christmas Eve and Christmas compared to the times leading up to the vacations, making it difficult for them to rebook travelers to other flights, and bookings have skyrocketed.
Passengers check in on the Delta counter at Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Michigan, December 22, 2022.
Jeff Kowalski | AFP | Getty Images
Greater than 1,700 flights were canceled and a pair of,200 delayed on Monday, compared with nearly 3,200 canceled flights and seven,700 delayed flights within the US on Sunday.
Delta Airlines, american airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Alaska airlines they were amongst other carriers affected by the weather.
A spokeswoman for American Airlines said that “the overwhelming majority of our affected customers have been able to re-accommodate.”
Delta “sees a gentle recovery in our operations and expects improvements to proceed over the following few hours,” a spokesman said on Monday.
Nonetheless, passengers also faced delayed baggage.
Bill Weaver, 41, said he, his wife and five children traveled from Wichita, Kansas, to Dallas Fort Value International Airport for a Friday flight to Cancun after their connecting flight to an American Airlines hub was canceled. The American Airlines flight to Cancun arrived on time, but their luggage didn’t arrive in Cancun until Monday and didn’t arrive on the hotel until noon, so that they had to spend tons of of dollars on clothes and other necessities at their hotel.
Weaver, who works in software sales, said he traveled rather a lot.
“I’m used to bags getting lost and things happening, but that is by far the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Extreme cold and powerful winds slowed ground operations at dozens of airports. According to FlightAware, greater than half of the flights of US-based airlines arrived late from Thursday to Saturday, with delays averaging 81 minutes.
“Temperatures have dropped to such a low level that our equipment and infrastructure have suffered, from frozen bathroom systems and fuel lines to broken towbars,” United Airlines said in a press release to pilots on Saturday. “Pilots encountered frozen airlocks while attempting to re-enter the jet bridge after conducting a bypass.”
The FAA said it had to evacuate its tower at Newark Liberty International Airport in Latest Jersey due to a leak on Saturday.
Meanwhile, JetBlue offered flight attendants triple pay to pick up travel on Christmas Eve due to staffing shortages.
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