re: Southwest Airlines has cancelled 69% of its flights so far today.

Just got home. First leg of my flight was cancelled shortly after check in yesterday. Hauled arse to the airport and waited a couple hours so I could tell them, don't rebook me, just don't boot me off my second leg. No one was getting anything earlier than Thursday, as SW was booking them in the other airlines. Then lucked out on a car rental at 11:30pm. Car rental was a lemon that shook violently at 65 mph. So I had to sleep maybe 4 hours and go back to the airport for 6:30am open to swap it.

Got the kids (4 and 1) into the car at 7:30am and rolled into ATL at 5:30pm. Caught my second leg and just got home 15 minutes ago. Brutal day. I want to burn my clothes. Baggage claim at my airport looked like a disaster too.

I fly from Oakland with a stop in Austin tomorrow and the same flight times and connector was today with just a 30 minute delay. I’ll tune in tomorrow to let you know the delays. Most flights in my path were canceled at the connecting flight.

quote:

---

I’m 13 down 7 to go

---

Just made it. That trip will stick with me every time I book a flight from here on out.

quote:

---

" Federal regulations on hours worked. People timed out while waiting for flights that were delayed on the clock the whole time."

Obviously the weather played a part in delaying flights, but the fact that SWA personnel were not available to man and service the flights due to being prohibited from doing so because of FAA work hours regs is the truth as told by a real live SWA employee,not a Facebook post from a fake SWA pilot that is being reposted in various stages of relationships, like "my friend's husband is a SWA pilot.".....

---

I am telling you with 100% certainty that crew members timing out had a tiny, tiny fraction to do with what we’re seeing. It just doesn’t happen that way. Your particular flight may have been impacted in that manner, but system wide cancellations aren’t being caused by pilots timing out.

I wouldnt doubt they saw an opportunity to let it fail to blame that on any profit loss to shareholders. No other airline experienced this. Ive never had many real
problems with SWA but Im done forever

I worked in the airline industry for almost 20 years. That line they told you was them trying to 'save face'. Those regulations could have maybe had a small impact but the truth is there was a massive sickout for the holidays.

Swa is running razor thin with aircraft and people. They bought up/opened new cities all will trying to keep up with the demand in the cities that they were already serving.

quote:

---

can't explain that one but it's happening.

---

Couple of reasons.

Get the bag to the destination before the passengers get there so when said passengers get there they have their bag.

If you get the bag to the passengers after they get there (hours orv days after they get there) the airline will have to pay a delivery service to get bags to passengers.

Some airports won't allow bags to stay in the bag rooms overnight so then each bag would have to be screened again by TSA.

Also if there was a feeling that tHis would happen (tons of stranded passengers in the following week and this might be hard to explain) they probably didn't want to overtax the ramp crew that is already overtaxed.

quote:

---

Family of four to leave ATL at 10 am is 2200 one way for comfort+.

---

And that is about a 2 hour flight time. So at least 5k private on any decent plane.

quote:

---

Ive never had many real
problems with SWA but Im done forever

---

No chance, you will fly them next cheap flight you see.

quote:

---

This 100%. The “new system”often resembles the old system because the stakeholders know nothing different when prescribing requirements.

---

Plus, now that everyone and their mother knows that SWA's crew scheduling system is trash, you're going to have a ton of groups trying to sell or build a new one on the cheap.

How do you think that will turn out?