U.S. air travelers who have faced a tumultuous week of cancellations and delays due to poor weather conditions will have to wait a bit longer for the skies to clear. The situation is particularly difficult if they’re planning on taking a flight with Southwest Airlines.
Approximately 2,850 flights have been canceled for Tuesday, as reported by the flight tracking website FlightAware. Of those canceled flights, 2,500, or 88%, are operated by Southwest. Many passengers have been informed rebooking may be delayed for days.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that it is conducting a review into the airline’s handling of its operations in light of its recent series of canceled flights, which has seen thousands of disgruntled passengers unable to make their desired journey. The FAA’s investigation follows complaints from customers and employees about how Southwest Airlines responded or failed to respond when bad weather forced them to cancel hundreds of its flights over the past week.
This latest incident marks yet another setback for an airline already struggling before the onset of this chaotic period caused by the turbulent winter weather patterns. The latest incidents put further pressure on Southwest Airlines as more and more customers take to social media to express their dismay at the airline’s increasingly poor service standards. Customers are lashing out against what they perceive as sloppy responses from both frontline staff and executives in particular. There also seems to be a certain amount of confusion regarding how many passengers can be rebooked or provided refunds for their canceled flights; some people are reporting that they were told there were no available seats left on other flights operated by Southwest Airlines, while others said that no refund was offered despite having purchased travel insurance policies meant to protect them against such situations.
The FAA is currently taking all these complaints into account while attempting to figure out what exactly led to such extensive flight cancellations within such a short time frame, including whether or not Southwest Airlines made full use of any technology available in order to minimize disruption and inconvenience as much as possible for impacted passengers. All involved are hoping that whatever findings emerge from this review lead to solutions so as not only to prevent similar incidents from occurring again but also to help restore trust in the airline among customers.
