The disruptions add to chaos that has left people stranded at airports across the country, many of them with little idea of when they can get home or where their bags are.
Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry told NPR the airline's disruptions are a result of the winter storm's lingering effects, adding that it hopes to"stabilize and improve its operation" with more favorable weather conditions.
Other issues that have exacerbated the airline's struggle to accommodate the holiday rush include problems with"connecting flight crews to their schedules," Perry said. That issue has made it difficult for employees to access crew scheduling services and get reassignments., 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.
But with many areas seeing clear skies on Monday, the airline would seem to have few obvious reasons to cancel so many flights. Potter calls it a"full-blown meltdown." "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."
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