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Southwest Airlines flight issues stranding thousands of passengers at DTW, around U.S.

By Jack Nissen and Camille Amiri
Published  December 28, 2022 7:06am EST
Travel News
FOX 2 Detroit

Travel nightmare for the holidays after Southwest Airlines cancels thousands of flights

Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded across the U.S., including at Detroit Metro Airport after Southwest Airlines was forced to shut down operations. It's wreaking havoc on people's travel plans.

ROMULUS, Mich. (FOX 2) - It's already one of the busiest travel periods of the year, a winter storm has already wreaked havoc on some of that transportation, and now one airline company has canceled hundreds of flights. 

The nightmare scenario spawning from Christmas 2022 and worsened by Southwest Airlines which is the cause of 87% of all US flight cancelations on Tuesday even earned a statement from the Transportation secretary. 

"Southwest passengers have experienced unacceptable disruptions and customer service conditions. I have made clear to their executives that our department will hold Southwest accountable for making things right with their customers and employees," Sec. Pete Buttigieg wrote on Twitter. 

Things haven't gotten much better Wednesday. The flight tracking software FlightAware says there are still more than 10,000 disrupted or canceled flights Wednesday. Southwest makes up about 65% of those delays.

The company has attributed its issues to the problems that arrived last week in the form of bad weather and busy travel. But it also said staffing shortages had worsened the problem.

"No pilots," said one family, who learned the next available flight won't be leaving Detroit Metro Airport until Friday. 

"Staffing. We were told staffing issues - they don't have enough crew," said the woman next to him. 

"I just want to get there tomorrow. So I can go skiing and all that," said one child, sounding rather patient considering the circumstances. 

According to CNN, Southwest Airline's chief operating officer said outdated software has also created problems for the company. It led to staffing trying to manually schedule flights - which quickly became muddied by bad weather and large crowds. 

Other airlines are reporting issues with flights in single-digit, Buttigieg told CNN Tuesday. "For Southwest right now, we appear to be north of 70%. So their system really has completely melted down and I've made clear that our department will be holding them accountable for their responsibilities to customers both to get them through this situation and to make sure that this can't happen again."