Southwest Airlines: A timeline of flight cancellations, delays and technical issues
Southwest customers are suffering from a slew of cancellations after the holiday fiasco seen a few months ago. What technical issues are causing delays?
Over 1,800 Southwest flights have been delayed, leaving thousands of travelers in limbo as the airline once again suffers from technical issues.
These delays come after a massive wave of cancellations around the holiday season in December led to passengers being stranded between their departure and arrival destination, some for multiple days. During the holiday fiasco, over 16,000 flights were canceled.
Timeline of events
At 10:36 am ET, the Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA) announced that Southwest had asked the agency to pause departures after they uncovered a technical issue with their internal systems.
Southwest Airlines requested the FAA pause the airline’s departures.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) April 18, 2023
Please contact Southwest Airlines for more.
Flights resume a short while later
Around 11:10 am ET, the FFA announced that Southwest departures had resumed after a technical issue had led to a pause in departures.
This morning @SouthwestAir experienced a technical issue with one of their internal systems.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) April 18, 2023
At the airline’s request, the FAA paused Southwest’s departures as they resolved the issue.
The pause has been lifted and their service has resumed.
Southwest offers “self-service options”
At 11:35 am ET, in response to the delays, Southwest issued a travel advisory explaining how passengers can “explore self-service options” while the airline attempts “to restore operations and accommodate disrupted Customers as quickly as possible.”
We’ve resumed operations this morning following a pause in service. Please visit https://t.co/64eTbzR9ph to check your flight status and explore self-service options as we work to restore operations and accommodate disrupted Customers as quickly as possible. pic.twitter.com/xGLJLsbiQV
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) April 18, 2023
Related stories
Over the course of the morning, more flights were delayed, and in total, around 1,860 had seen their departure time moved back before 1:00 pm ET.
What technical issues caused the Southwest delay?
Little is known about the technical issues that led to nearly 2,000 flights being canceled. More information is expected in the coming hours.