DALLAS – Southwest Airlines has had a week of major operational problems, canceling more than 750 flights and leaving thousands of travelers behind. Some of the airline’s busiest hubs, like Dallas Love Field, Denver overseas, Chicago Midway, Phoenix Sky Harbor, and Los Angeles International, have been hit by the cancellations. Some overseas routes have also been disrupted.
Experts in aviation say that a number of things are to blame for the extensive cancellations, but the airline has not given a single obvious cause. A big reason was a lot of thunderstorms in the Midwest and on the West Coast. These storms made airspace very busy, especially around key Southwest hubs like Phoenix and Chicago.
Travel expert Paramita Sarkar said that the airline’s “point-to-point” route concept made the problem worse. Southwest’s methodology connects flights in a chain, which is different from how other big airlines do it. They send planes through central hubs. This structure renders the system very sensitive to a “snowball effect,” where one delay in one area can cause thousands of cancellations in another city. For instance, if a jet is late in Phoenix, it might not make it to Las Vegas, which would then miss its trip to Orlando. This would cause problems all around the country.
The airline business as a whole is also having problems. Reports say that air traffic control systems are stretched too thin because of the increase in summer travel, which causes delays and congestion. This, together with the staffing shortages that have been a problem since the outbreak, has made it very likely that operations will collapse.
Southwest Airlines has said that it is trying to help travelers who are stuck by giving them hotel rooms for those who have to wait overnight, giving them refunds for delayed flights, and giving them travel vouchers for those who don’t want to rebook. But sources say that a lot of travelers are still detained at airports, waiting for news and other travel plans.