Southwest Airlines Cancels 1,800 Flights for This Reason

Thousands of people were stranded during the weekend when Southwest Airlines canceled 1,800 flights, blaming it on weather and staffing issues.

The Dallas-based airline disrupted the traveling plans of many customers on Sunday and cited initial problems on bad weather as well as an “FAA-imposed air traffic management program.”

“I know this is incredibly difficult for all of you, and our Customers are not happy,” Alan Kasher executive vice president of daily flight operations told staff in a note.

“Although we were staffed for the weekend, we could not anticipate the significant disruption that was created from unexpected ATC issues and bad weather across our Florida stations,” said Kasher.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there were a “few hours” of flight delays on Friday afternoon because of severe weather and staffing issues at Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center, which controls airspace in five parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.

“No FAA air traffic staffing shortages have been reported since Friday,” the FAA remarked. “Some airlines continue to experience scheduling challenges due to aircraft and crews being out of place. Please contact the airlines for details about current flight schedules.”

“Right now, our [network operations center] Teams are working to protect our Crew network and prevent misconnects — both for our Crews and Customers — that would cause an even greater impact,” said Kasher. “And Teams are working to determine the best course of action to most quickly reset our network.”

“Although we’ve made schedule adjustments leading into the fall, our route system has not fully recovered — that will take time,” Kasher also added.
Kasher said Southwest has fewer frequencies between major airports to reroute or rebook travelers.

Some rumors said the cancellations had been due to a Covid vaccine mandate. Southwest said that was not the cause of the mass flight cancellations.

“It’s inaccurate,” a Southwest spokeswoman said by email to CNBC. “There’s a lot of unfounded rumor and speculation circulating.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.