![]() ![]() Louis attorney Asim Raza and his wife simultaneously shopping for airline tickets online when their 19-year-old son's early Sunday flight back to school in Washington, D.C., was canceled late Saturday. ► Spirit Airlines meltdown: 'Just a parade of incompetency' "All these challenges put pressure on our crew member regulatory and contractual limits, which in turn becomes a staffing challenge – leading to higher than expected cancellations,'' Kasher said. All this against a backdrop of staffing problems that have dogged the airline, and others, all summer. Some couldn't even find hotels to stay in. As happened with Spirit Airlines two months ago, the initial cancellations and delays quickly snowballed as flight crews timed out and couldn't fly planned flights. Kasher's memo reiterated the airline's initial comments that air traffic control issues and bad weather in Florida were to blame. "I just would rather them be more transparent and just say, "Hey, this is what’s going on,'' Marino said. Ted Cruz (R-TX) among those weighing in Sunday. ![]() Those theories took over Twitter this weekend as the cancellations mounted, with Sen. Marino, who prefers to fly Southwest, said he doesn't buy the airline's explanation for the mass flight cancellations and says it looks like a labor action related to vaccine mandates despite union, company and Federal Aviation Administration statements suggesting that wasn't the case. (Marino said Southwest gave them travel credits for the canceled flight they were eligible for a refund since the airline canceled the flight.) The tab: $380 per person plus rental car expenses. She had to rent a car and drive a few hours to catch a Delta Air Lines flight to Phoenix via Los Angeles on Sunday so she and her 4-year-old son could meet up for the "trip of a lifetime'' to Sedona, Arizona. Vincent Marino's Southwest flight from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix with a dozen family members took off as planned Saturday but his daughter's later flight was canceled. That's a fraction of the more than 1,100 flights, or 30% of scheduled flights, Southwest canceled Sunday but still more than any U.S. Monday, Southwest had canceled more than 360 Monday flights, or 10% of its operation, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Still, travelers need to check their flight status before heading to the airport. The airline's longtime operations chief and new president, Mike Van de Ven, also thanked Southwest employees in a video message late Sunday for their "heroic efforts'' to help travelers and said that Southwest's operations "seem to be on track for a reset so that Monday is more normal.'' "I'm sorry for the struggles that you and our customers are experiencing, once again,'' Alan Kasher, the airline's executive vice president of daily operations, said of the 1,900 flight cancellations that stranded travelers and flight crews across the country. Southwest Airlines has apologized for this weekend's meltdown in a memo to employees. ![]()
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