NEWS: Southwest Airlines Cancels THOUSANDS More Flights

Have you heard about the Southwest Airlines fiasco of 2022?

©Reuters

Chances are you know about it if you’ve been on social media or have been watching the news. Southwest Airlines is canceling and delaying flights and we recently learned that flights will continue being canceled all the way through December 31st. Today, December 28th, the cancelations continue and other airlines are working to help stranded travelers.

According to CNBC, Southwest Airlines canceled 2,500 flights today on top of the several thousand they have already canceled since December 21st. This marks another day of a high percentage of cancelations with 60% of its schedule canceled on this Wednesday.

Southwest Airplane

If you are traveling to Disney World or just Orlando in general, Flight Aware reported 118 canceled flights which is 49% of the airport’s canceled flights that day.

These cancelations stemmed from a winter storm that also impacted other airlines, however most other airlines have been able to bounce back since then. Now that they are back on track, some airlines are making temporary changes to help stranded passengers in cities that Southwest Airlines travels.

©Southwest Airlines

American Airlines is capping fares in “cities severely affected by cancellations” so you may be able to find a cheaper flight on American if you were impacted by the Southwest cancelations. Delta Airlines also said it “capped fares in all the markets Southwest operates” — these fares will be around from now until Saturday, December 31st.

Southwest Airlines

The Department of Transportation announced yesterday that they will look into what happened with Southwest Airlines’ “unacceptable rate of cancellations.” Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, spoke with the CEO of Southwest Airlines and union leaders to “convey the department’s expectation.” Currently, Southwest is blaming the performance of the internal systems for these issues with flights.

When a flight is canceled or severely delayed and it’s the airline’s fault, they are responsible for taking care of the customer. Southwest needs to make good on its promise to travelers. pic.twitter.com/Cs9ZqozYwj

— TransportationGov (@USDOT) December 28, 2022

We’ll continue to keep you updated on flight delays and cancelations, so stay tuned to DFB for more information. In the meantime, if you’re traveling this holiday season, consider making a backup plan in case your flight gets canceled.