‘What a mess’: Southwest employees blame outdated systems for cancellations that trap travelers for days

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RALEIGH, North Carolina The holiday travel trap continued on Tuesday as travelers grew increasingly angry over another day of widespread cancellations, particularly among Southwest Airlines flights.

In Terminal 1 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the departures board showed 74% of Southwest flights canceled on Tuesday, just some of the 2,500 the airline canceled nationwide.

A tearful traveler told WRAL News she will miss her mother’s 90th birthday. Another described being blocked for four days.

Those with reservations had to make the difficult decision of sometimes waiting for hours on the phone or online with customer service or driving to the airport in hopes of speaking to a human.

“A few days ago I would be on hold for a few hours and then give up. Now I don’t even call because I get the busy signal,” Carly Stiver said.

Kimberly Guidry said she was told she couldn’t be rebooked for a week.

Rex Sladek said he was forced to spend an extra day in Texas and missed Christmas with his family. On Tuesday, he was back in Raleigh but not his luggage.

There were thousands of people stuck in airports,” he said. “I couldn’t make any flights because they were all full for the next three days. My luggage is stuck elsewhere. It’s all a mess.

Travelers stranded by canceled flights have turned to other airlines or rental cars and found frustration there too.

Bob McEewen said, “Tickets were $2,200, $2,300 just to get to Atlanta one way. That’s just ridiculous.”

Many Southwest employees, just as frustrated as passengers, are blaming internal airline systems.

“The phone system the company uses just doesn’t work,” Lyn Montgomery, president of TWU Local 556, told CNN. “They just aren’t staffed enough to give flight attendants the schedule changes, and that’s created a ripple effect that’s creating chaos across the country.”

The problems facing Southwest have been smoldering for a long time, said Capt. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association.

“We’ve had these issues for 20 months,” he told CNN. “We’ve seen these kinds of meltdowns happen much more regularly and it really has to do with outdated processes and outdated IT.

“It’s the phones, it’s the computers, it’s the processing power, it’s the programs used to connect us to planes – that’s where the problem lies, and it’s systemic across the airline.” , did he declare.

The federal Department of Transportation said it was investigating.

“USDOT is concerned about Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and reports of a lack of prompt customer service,” the agency tweeted. “The Department will review whether the cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.”

Southwest offers bus service to some travelers

On Monday, Southwest Airlines, trying to get passengers to hubs in Atlanta and Nashville, offered to charter buses for those who wanted to take the freeway.

Karen Buster, who wanted to go to Nashville on Monday, had already passed through security at the time of the announcement.

“She announced that if they could get 30 people on the buses from Atlanta and Nashville, they would be ready to leave within the hour,” Buster said.

The charter was scheduled to depart at 5 p.m., for an estimated trip of about eight hours.

Eric Ford was one of a dozen people who opted for the ride.

“I can’t do anything but sit on this bus to go home,” he said.

Most of the other Southwest Line passengers were rebooking, some of them on flights that weren’t expected to leave RDU for days.

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