The airline claimed it was “fully staffed and prepared” ahead of the holiday weekend, but said operational conditions “forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity.”īut CEO Bob Jordan seemed to strike a different note in private.ĬNN quoted Jordan as telling employees in a message on Monday that the airline has “a lot of issues in the operation right now.” Perry said the airline hopes to “stabilise and improve its operation” in better weather conditions. Speaking to NPR, airline representative Chris Perry said the ‘lingering effects’ of the storm were to blame. Southwest is publicly blaming the extreme weather conditions. Montgomery in an interview with the Dallas Morning News blamed Southwest’s “archaic, outdated systems” for the chaos. “Our customers struggled with it just as our thousands of flight attendants did.” “The company’s failures are happening year-round, but are particularly egregious on Christmas. But at this point, the many years of failure by management, despite many unions’ demands to modernize, has left flight attendants fatigued, stranded, hungry and cold - on Christmas!” …Believe me, we know about stepping up and putting in long work hours when we are called to do so we are flight attendants. “The way Southwest Airlines has treated its flight crews can only be termed ‘despicable. Lyn Montgomery, the president of Southwest flight attendants’ union, in an interview with CNN called the airlines’ treatment of workers and customers despicable. Social media is rife with complaints of long wait times to speak with representatives, issues with lost luggage and in some cases unable to get through to customer service.Ī traveller told CNN her family was on hold with Southwest for 10 hours.ĬNN reported that Southwest representatives at Denver International Airport told passengers they would be unable to rebook flights until Friday and that new bookings would remain close till 3 January.Ī flight board shows cancelled flights at the Southwest Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

“We’ve seen this again and again over the course of the last year or so, when airlines really just struggle especially after a storm, but there’s pretty clear skies across the country.”Īirports across the US are witnessing chaos with thousands of travellers and crew members stranded. “This is really as bad as it gets for an airline,” Potter said. Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, told NPR the airline was having a “full-blown meltdown.” As per NPR, Delta airlines, which was in second place behind Southwest, cancelled just 265 flights.Īmerican Airlines cancelled just 12 flights, but accounted for nearly a quarter of all delays (792), as per Business Insider.

Southwest airlines strike 2022