Posted on 12/28/2022 10:58:05 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
An estimated 1,000 travelers spent Monday night at Denver International Airport amid a wave of flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines.
The number of people having to spend the night in the airport did tumble on Tuesday to 50 or fewer people, Denver International Airport’s Alex Renteria told The Hill in an email.
Denver has been at the center of the storm when it comes to flight cancellations.
On Monday, more than 460 flights through Denver International were canceled, and the airport saw more canceled flights than any other on Tuesday as well, according to FlightAware.
Tuesday saw 362 flights canceled, including 183 originating from the airport. Numbers were similarly high Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
This isn’t Herb Kelleher’s Southwest Airlines anymore.
I remember the old days, they’d put you up at the airport Hilton and even give you a toothbrush and toothpaste.
Atlas is Shrugging and the affirmative action software engineers can’t get it done....
Long as the food court was open not too bad a place unless that flimsy roof blew off.
Once ——In my travelling days -—— there was a delay to the flight, so I just curled up on a bench and napped.
My daughter has a strong track record of flight problems. She had two flights yesterday, (Not sure what airline) that were flawless.
Over on Zerohedge, there is an article from Bloomberg showing on the 21st of December a memo from a Southwest Executive to a group of employees in Denver about excused absences, indicating Southwest knew on the 21st of December about major problems were going to happen over Christmas.
Southwest was at the forefront of Vaccine mandates and eliminating people who resisted, it sounds to me like Southwest Employees are staging a silent coup or work slowdown to get management removed.
The other large U.S. airlines use “hub and spoke” networks in which flights radiate out from a few major or hub airports. That helps limit the reach of disruptions caused by bad weather in part of the country. Southwest, however, has a “point to point” network in which planes crisscross the country during the day.
I saw that explained on a TV news story today - they explained how the point-to-point system helps snowball the cancellation rates when there are initiating disruptions. They also said that Southwest had an “antiquated” computer sustem and a pilot communication system that left many pilots unsure where/what their next flight was and not getting answers from Souhtwest.
DIA has maybe the best USO anywhere. Stayed there many times while waiting for flights home from TDY. I’ll bet they were busy Monday.
Colonel, USAF JAGCR (ret)
It was an absolute disaster. Once we reached Chicago Midway, a ton of Southwest Airlines flights were cancelled out of the blue, including ours. No notice as to what was going on, but it seemed to everyone stuck at the airport that SWA didn't have enough crew to staff the flights. Which is outrageous. There were NO weather issues, by the way.
Endured an awful night sleeping at Chicago Midway (with very few concessions open throughout the night). Ended up having to fly to Manchester, New Hampshire (very turbulent flight), spend extra $$$ to rent a car to drive back to Connecticut. Picked up my checked bag at BDL (which thankfully wasn't stolen).
The whole thing was a nightmare, and the Southwest ticket agents we dealt with at Chicago Midway were completely unprofessional.
Never again. Southwest sucked then, and it still sucks!
The last two times we've flown, we went with JetBlue. All 4 of these flights were excellent, and everyone we dealt with at JB was very professional.
We live near BDL (Bradley Airport, Hartford, CT). Four friends - two couples who left Connecticut years ago for Florida - flew in around December 21st. The couple that flew American had flawless flights. The other couple flew Southwest, and found out yesterday that their flight back to Tampa (which was supposed to happen today) got cancelled. They are still stuck here until at least Saturday.
At least they didn't have to have to spend the night or several nights sleeping at Bradley Airport, waiting for another flight home. Like my husband and I did the last time we flew Southwest in 2019. We had the "pleasure" of spending the night at Chicago Midway Airport while our checked bag flew on home as scheduled. There were no weather issues at all - just complete incompetence by Southwest Airlines.
Southwest sucks!
“I remember the old days, they’d put you up at the airport Hilton and even give you a toothbrush and toothpaste.”
Yes, and most people couldn’t afford to fly. Now airlines are a bus service and everything is about the cheapest ticket, not service.
“Southwest was at the forefront of Vaccine mandates and eliminating people who resisted, it sounds to me like Southwest Employees are staging a silent coup or work slowdown to get management removed.”
Decades ago, my wife used to fly back to Chicago to be with her downstate Ill. relatives.
Her check in luggage was always late and delivered to her relatives home.
When her mother flew out here, she boarded w/packed food and bottled water and sent her clothes needed out here, via UPS.
She loved to tell her tales/stories about flying SW.
I’ll be flying southwest next week. I’m looking forward to it. They are normally the best run airline.
Six months ago it was United’s turn to suck due to cancelled flights. Sensing an agenda?
Unions?
Government overlords?
Is American next to suck?
TRAVEL
Southwest cancels more than half of DIA flights Wednesday and Thursday
At one point 10,000 unattended bags were sitting at Denver’s airport but that number appears to be dropping.
“Now airlines are a bus service and everything is about the cheapest ticket”
Most passengers are after the cheapest ticket.
Hotels were likely sold out with that many flights. Airport hotels of major airports tend to run around 80% occupancy already
Love the first comment:
“Seeing all that luggage I had to wonder where Sam Brinton was. He would have a field day stealing.”
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