![]() The unsettling calm from the other side of the terminal wasn't anywhere to be found there. They were in the lines snaking away from the Southwest ticket counters. It didn't take long to see where everyone was, however. The eerie quiet of the terminal being interrupted only when a single boarding announcement was heard seemed relatively momentous. ![]() And speaking of rental cars, the only thing shorter than the TSA security check lines were those in front of the Avis, Budget and Hertz counters, because there were hardly any vehicles available by that time. tweet this Instead of a steady stream of passengers making their way from their arrival gates to the rental car counters in Love Field’s terminal on Tuesday, there was barely a stream of people trickling in. Red stripes reading “Cancelled” dominated the boards for arrivals and departures, with several more sections displaying yellow “New Time” notifications. The most obvious signs inside the airport that something was amiss were the actual signs displaying the status of pending flights. The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.” Department of Transportation tweeted “USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service. Passengers were not the only ones taking notice of the mess. Those systems, too, became overtaxed, leading to a lack of answers and an increase in frustration. For every canceled flight, dozens, or in some cases, hundreds of passengers tried to book new flights online or by phone. Such a catastrophic scenario would bring attention at any point in the year, but especially so during the holiday season. Ensuring there were aircraft available in the same place and time that crews were also available to staff the flights became a manual function that has caused chaos. The “continuing challenges” seem to be stemming from the company’s scheduling software not being able to handle the demand created by the initial delays and cancellations. ![]() The airline issued a statement on Monday, saying "with consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a significant way that is unacceptable." Some national media outlets went so far as to write that the airline is having a " meltdown” that isn't necessarily related only to bad weather. By Monday morning, however, more cancellations were being announced even though the severe weather had lightened up in many major Southwest hubs. The bad news began late last week as weather-related cancellations began in the wake of the winter storms that surged through much of the United States. Even if one had somehow missed seeing the headlines and social media posts generated by Southwest Airlines' cancellation of over 2,800 flights on Monday and 2,400 more on Tuesday, things were clearly off-kilter throughout the Love Field terminal. On Tuesday morning, you didn’t have to look hard to see plenty of signs that things had not been going well for a certain segment of holiday travelers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |