Controversy over US hurricane flight cancellations: Seven out of 10 belong to same company

The Flight cancellations and delays The weather-related streak that affected U.S. commercial aviation over the holiday weekend continued into Monday Southwest Airlines Responsible for a series of interruptions the day after Christmas.

According to flight tracking service FlightAware, More than 3,800 flights were canceled on Monday US airlines, Of those, 2,800 are operated by Southwestthat is, almost 70% Total scheduled for that day.

By Tuesday night, Southwest had canceled 2,870 flights, 70% scheduled for that day. Pictures from the airports showed huge piles of luggage. By comparison, Delta canceled 8% of its flights on Monday.

In total, were recorded Over 7,100 departures and arrival delays American Airlines, Several hundred of them are from the Southwest. Airports across the U.S. experienced cancellations and delays, including Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore and Chicago, according to FlightAware data.

The Dallas-based airline, one of the world’s largest low-cost carriers, said it expected disruptions to continue in the days leading up to the New Year holiday travel period later this week.

He said the weather in the southwest was improving, which would “stabilize and improve our situation”.

“Difficulties connecting flight crews to their schedules” are among other issues that have exacerbated the airlines’ struggles to adapt to the holiday rush, Southwest spokesman Chris Perry said. e.g. That problem makes it difficult for employees to access team planning services and get reassignments.

“It was a disaster, a failure on all levels. Our processes, our information technologies and our infrastructure are not ready to support the operation and unfortunately our customers are bearing the brunt of it,” said Southwest Airlines Pilots Association President and Southwest Captain Casey Murray.

The US Department of Transportation Southwest Airlines said late Monday that it would examine a large number of canceled and delayed flights in recent days to determine whether they were under the airline’s control.Unacceptable”.

Oakland resident Harriet Kingsbury commented: “It’s never been so crowded, it’s crazy.” After a four-hour delay, Kingsbury was able to make it to Oakland. She was one of the lucky ones. “It’s a total messsaid Napa Valley resident Mike Bolen.

Commercial air travel has been disrupted since last week, when an Arctic storm combined with a major winter storm nicknamed Elliot formed in the Midwest and swept across much of the United States ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend.

With long queues at airports and lost luggage, the resulting increase in cancellations and delays, It has ruined countless customers’ winter vacation plans One of the busiest times of the year for travelers is American Airlines.

The storm coincided with a report from the Transportation Security Administration that said holiday travel levels were close to pre-pandemic levels, peaking on Thursday, three days before Christmas.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimates that between last Friday and January 2, more than 112 million people will travel more than 80 kilometers, most by car.

(With information from Reuters, AP, AFP)

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