The cold wave and snowstorms that have hit much of the United States in recent days have caused major damage to air traffic and thousands of people have been stranded in the country’s airports. Nearly 5,000 flights were canceled on Tuesday and more than 4,000 experienced major delays. More than three thousand flights scheduled for Wednesday were also cancelled.
The problems concerned one airline in particular: Southwest Airlines, a low-cost airline that is one of the largest airlines in the United States and mainly deals with domestic flights. More than 2,500 of Tuesday’s canceled flights were his. The American newspapers are describing the great difficulties of the company in these hours as «its biggest operational disaster” ever.
Southwest Airlines is failing to rearrange its flights and find alternative flights for its customers, in part due to an inadequate information system for managing reservations and flight scheduling. The Department of Transportation has expressed concern about the company’s “unacceptable cancellation and delay rate” and its shortcomings in terms of customer service. President Joe Biden also spoke on the matter, who on Twitter said that his administration will make sure that the responsibilities of the airlines are recognized.
Thousands of flights nationwide have been canceled around the holidays.
Our Administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable.
If you’ve been affected by cancellations, go to @USDOT‘s dashboard to see if you’re entitled to compensation. https://t.co/r0YBCPyKes https://t.co/1ZdqhBOAoL
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 27, 2022
Southwest has repeatedly apologized for the delays and cancellations, calling the inconvenience for passengers “unacceptable” and promising refunds for meals, hotel nights and alternative transportation used by its customers whose flights scheduled between December 24 and December January 2 have been canceled or delayed.
In some American airports, such as those in Denver, Chicago and Washington, queues have formed for hours to speak with airline customer service representatives. In addition, thousands of bags have accumulated: many people have found themselves separated from their own.
Overall, flights canceled since December 22 have been nearly twenty thousand throughout the United States.
