The Complexity of Southwest Airlines Scheduling and Staffing during the Fourth of July Holiday Through-Out of the U.S.
A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines (SWA) said the recent winter storm is to blame for the cascade of thousands of flight cancellations Monday and advanced cancellations Tuesday.
More than 2,700 flights within and out of the US have been canceled as of early Tuesday morning.
The airline’s struggle to cope with the holiday rush has been made worse by problems with connecting flight crew to their schedules. That issue has made it difficult for employees to access crew scheduling services and get reassignments.
Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, called it an incredibly complex task for an airline with a network as vast as Southwest’s to coordinate staffing and scheduling, particularly after weather delays.
“This is really as bad as it gets for an airline,” Potter said. “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.”
From Houston, Texas, to Florida, to Cleveland, Ohio and Denver, Colo., passengers share photos and video of long lines at the reservation counter and overwhelmed baggage claim areas. At Southwest, the customer service phone line’s hold times averaged more than two hours, sometimes reaching four hours, according to Colorado Public Radio.
“I’m okay with these travel situations and fly on myself when it’s just me, but when my one-year-old has to suffer through it because of incompetence and mismanagement, it becomes personal,” said Southwest passenger Joshua calloway. I’m not going to do this with that company again.
Thousands of Delta pilots picketed at major airports this summer, calling for higher pay and highlighting staff concerns as passengers faced flight cancellations during the Fourth of July holiday rush. Last month, Delta pilots voted to authorize a strike after negotiations for a new contract were paused.
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Air travelers hoping for a clear day on Tuesday will have to wait a few more days, especially if they are flying with Southwest Airlines.
Denver International is the most disrupted airport after Chicago Midway International, Baltimore/Washington International, Nashville International, and Dallas Love Field.
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan told the Wall Street Journal the company plans to operate just over a third of its schedule in upcoming days to give itself the ability for crews to get into the right positions.
“We had a tough day today. In all likelihood we’ll have another tough day tomorrow as we work our way out of this,” Jordan said in an interview Monday evening with WSJ.com.
Passengers in line at the Southwest ticket counter at Atlanta’s airport were frustrated by the lengthy wait, and CNN’s Carlos Suarez spoke with them.
CNN customers couldn’t get in the queue to speak to a customer service representative because calls to Southwest did not go through on Monday. Southwest told CNN it is “fully staffed to answer calls.”
If you’ve been left in the lurch, the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights suggests getting in touch with an international number to reach a customer service agent.
“The main hotline for US airlines will be clogged with other passengers getting rebooked. To reach an agent quickly, you need to call one of the airline’s international offices.
Jay Mc Vay, executive vice president of sales and marketing, said during the press conference at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport on Monday night that the storms made it impossible for many of the larger stations to stay open.
“With those cancellations and as a result, we end up with flight crews and airplanes that are out of place and not in the cities that they need to be in to continue to run our operations.”
At the moment, safety is the company’s first priority. He stated that they want to make sure that these flights are operated safely and that they have enough time to do so.
He said that they would do everything they needed to do, including hotels, ride assistance, vans and rental cars.
If you have left, take care of yourself and do what you need to do for your family, keep your receipts,” McVay said. We will make sure they are taken care of.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/southwest-flight-cancellations-winter-storm-tuesday/index.html
The Disruption of Southwest Airlines in the Early Stage of the December December Snow Season and the Impact on Bus Services in the Mid-Industrial
An announcement made in the terminal prior to the news conference apologized to customers, and said the next available SWA seats are on Saturday, December 31st and later. The agent said Southwest would be providing buses to area hotels and assured that “we will have sufficient rooms for all customers who are affected by this disruption.”
The United State Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued a statement on Monday’s massive flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines, saying the agency is “concerned”.
The problems Southwest is experiencing have been going on for quite some time, according to the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association.
“We’ve been having these issues for the past 20 months,” he said. “We’ve seen these sorts of meltdowns occur on a much more regular basis and it really just has to do with outdated processes and outdated IT.”
“This ultimately is a leadership problem,” Murray stated. “Until we have some true leadership that is going to make some changes and really bring this airline into the 21st century we’re going to continue to see this, and our customers and our employees are going to continue to suffer.”
The Buffalo International Airport said in a recent post that it does not plan to resume flights before 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
Greyhound, the largest bus service provider in the US, posted on its website on Monday that many of its scheduled services in the upper northeast will be canceled or disrupted until further notice due to winter weather. Affected cities include Buffalo, Cleveland and Syracuse.
A winter storm that swept across the US was ill-timed for travelers who had started pushing Christmas week flying numbers back toward pre-pandemic levels.