Southwest expects nearly normal operations Friday after four days of flight cancellations
Southwest Airlines, which began canceling thousands of flights the day after Christmas, said its flight network should be close to normal on Friday.
On Thursday, Southwest’s prolonged misery caused by severe weather and a collapse of internal computer systems accounted for 58% of flights scrubbed across the country. The airline’s technology has been unable to keep up with massive scheduling changes nationwide.
The 2,361 canceled flights represent more than half of the 4,043 U.S. flight cancellations.
In South and Central Florida, Orlando International had the most cancellations Thursday with 118, according to Flight Aware, an online aviation website.
Also seeing large numbers of Thursday cancellations, most by Southwest, were:
▪ Tampa International Airport, 107
▪ Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, 81
▪ Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers), 40
▪ Miami International Airport, 29
▪ Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, 24
Southwest issued a statement Thursday saying it plans to return to “normal operations with minimal disruptions” on Friday.
Company officials say they are “encouraged” by the progress to realign crew, their schedules, and fleet of jets to handle another busy holiday weekend, the New Year’s weekend.
Southwest has almost 4,000 flights a day planned over the holiday weekend to handle the expected rush of people going home after holiday trips and back to college for the spring semester.
“We know even our deepest apologies — to our customers, to our employees, and to all affected through this disruption — only go so far,” Southwest said.
Passengers can submit refund and reimbursement requests for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation, as well as learn how they can retrieve their baggage at Southwest.com/traveldisruption.
Bob Jordan, Southwest’s CEO, said this week the airline needs to upgrade its computer systems “for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what’s happening right now.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 at 12:16 PM.
