Traveling is fun, but it has its fair share of problems.
Many guests who visit the Disney Parks often have a tight schedule and plan for their trip, and something like a flight cancellation could alter those plans. Although Spirit Airlines recently had major cancellations, now another airline is cancelling hundreds of flights this weekend.
According to CNBC, passengers on several Southwest Airlines flights experienced cancellations this weekend, resulting in long customer service wait times and growing frustration. Interestingly, other airlines flying out of Florida over the weekend dealt with cancellations as well, but far fewer flights were impacted when compared to Southwest.
On Sunday alone, Southwest Airlines canceled 27% of its schedule, or over 1,000 flights, in one day. The company blamed its significant wave of cancellations on air traffic control issues and bad weather.
The cancellations began on Saturday, when the airline halted 808 total flights. Meanwhile, other airlines in the area canceled only a small percentage of their overall flights, leading to speculation about the true motivation behind Southwest’s schedule change.
This isn’t the first time Southwest has experienced major issues. Over the summer, the company experienced a system-wide outage that caused thousands of delays and cancellations.
This news comes right after Southwest’s 50th Anniversary celebration, which they shared with Disney World by creating a co-branded commemorative plane filled with Disney details.
If you’re planning on flying through Southwest in the near future, you might want to confirm your flight details to make sure everything is still on track! In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned for all the latest travel news and Disney information.
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Have you ever experienced an airline cancelation? Let us know in the comments.
Mother of 2 says
We booked SW months in advance for our trip to WDW last June, and about a month before our trip SW sent us an email that they changed our Non-Stop flight and added 2 (two!) connections. Our 2.5 hour flight would take 9-10 hours. No thank you, they lost our business.
MamaZ says
They always blame their over scheduling on ATC. Only so many can take off and land in a certain time frame.
beautiful gorgeous says
The last time we got tickets with Southwest they canceled our flight and switched us to a flight we didn’t want.
Sarah says
I was on a flight from chicago on Friday that should have been 2.5hrs non stop. It became over 8 hours with a stop in Atlanta for the same “air traffic control reason” and they had actually canceled most of the flight on Friday too
Curtis Troster says
Southwest had a big anniversary party in Dallas last weekend for any employee with a significant anniversary. Our flight Friday had at least 15 employees on it. You take 10% of any workforce out of the picture and you will have problems running your business
Tami says
I don’t think these cancellations were due to bad weather or air traffic control problems…..
Disneymom says
We flew out of Orlando with SW on Saturday w no issues. But, I heard the pilots are using their sick/vacation time before they quit or are fired due to vaccine mandate which takes effect in December, I think.
G-Man says
They were walking out to protest the vax mandates. We should all stand with them as we are losing our autonomy and freedom. Frost it’s these injections. Then it’s fun things like Diz. Then it’s access to your money, u less you take they’re new injections.
I have family that was affected by the cancellations, and it sucks when that happens, but to gloss over the reasons is disrespectful.
Stand up for freedom or lose it all!
Alan C says
Get the vaccination.
KC says
I read the problem was Southwest instituted mandatory vaccines and a thousand employees walked off! Let’s say the truth!