As of 10:30 am ET the cancellations had totaled 482 flights to, from or within the United States. About half of those — 235 — were Southwest flights. One of the major reasons is a winter storm hitting the Midwest and heading towards the Northeast. Southwest has a strong presence in many of the cities affected, including Chicago, Indianapolis and Cleveland — with airports in those cities among those with the most canceled flights.
The service meltdown over the holidays forced Southwest to cancel roughly half — more than 16,700 — of its flights scheduled between December 21 and 29. During some of the days in that period the airline was forced to cancel nearly three-quarters of its flights. Southwest’s antiquated crew scheduling system made the problem worse, leaving the airline the staffing it needed to handle flights.