Southwest has canceled hundreds of flights because of weather and maintenance issues - and passengers are furious

Graham Rapier

Feb 22, 2019, 03:48 IST

Southwest has canceled hundreds of flights because of weather and maintenance issues - and passengers are furious

Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 400 flights on Thursday and delayed hundreds more.
In a statement to Business Insider, a Southwest spokesperson pointed to a statement from head of operations, Mike Van de Ven on Wednesday, in which the executive blamed ongoing negotiations with a mechanics union for an "unprecedented" number of flight delays.
Some passengers were frustrated and took to Twitter to vent.

Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 400 flights on Thursday and delayed hundreds more as its scuffle with a mechanics union and unusual winter weather in Las Vegas wreaked havoc on its operations.

By 3 pm Eastern, the low-cost carrier had canceled 388 flights, or 9% of its scheduled service, and delayed 488 others, according to flight aware, leaving some customers furious.

In a statement to Business Insider, a Southwest spokesperson pointed to a statement from head of operations, Mike Van de Ven on Wednesday, in which the executive blamed ongoing negotiations with a mechanics union for an "unprecedented" number of flight delays.

"The airline continues to experience a higher-than-average number of out-of-service aircraft and is operating under a staffing protocol enacted late last week to maximize availability of Mechanics to address maintenance items and safely return aircraft to service," the spokesperson added.

@SouthwestAir let's see they cancel both of my flights to and from Vegas at the very last minute knowing that Southwest is having union issues. Those union issues were not disclosed to me at the time of ticket purchase.
- darrell (@darrell33616548) February 21, 2019

@SouthwestAir trying to leave Vegas today at 5, flight cancelled at ten this morning. I've been on hold for 1 hr 30 minutes. All flights today and tomorrow are full. #southwestsucks
- Matt Gilbert (@Jaholibop) February 21, 2019

@SouthwestAir been on hold over an hour to try to find out about getting a connecting flight after a delay in Indy. Is anyone there?
- Orion (@OrionBuckingham) February 21, 2019

@SouthwestAir what did I do wrong?

You canceled my flight this morning, then canceled my rebooked flight.

Then I actually drove a rental car 4 hours to make my meeting and you cancel my return flight home...

I think we need to chat about our relationship.
- Josh Sinclair (@vSinclairJ) February 21, 2019

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