Southwest cancels flights out of MHT as part of national ordeal
Dec. 28—Brenna Fitzgerald walked out of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Tuesday with a $200 voucher and a promise of some sort of reimbursement from Southwest Airlines, but no way to get home to Virginia Beach.
Her flight had been set to take off early Wednesday morning to make it back to work in time. She flew into town before the storm hit to spend Christmas with family in Manchester.
Southwest, which is the largest carrier at MHT, could not rebook her until after the new year, Fitzgerald said.
"There is nothing they could really do," she said.
Fitzgerald was not alone. Southwest has struggled to recover from harsh winter weather that has wrecked holiday plans for many. As of Tuesday morning, the low-cost carrier had canceled 2,523 flights nationwide. That was 30 times as many as Spirit Airlines, the carrier with the next-highest number of cancellations.
Spirit canceled its 11:55 a.m. flight from Manchester to Orlando on Tuesday.
At the Southwest counter at MHT, the board showed four of six flights on Tuesday afternoon and evening canceled. In all, 15 flights were canceled as of 11:45 a.m. Tuesday.
"I always know there is a risk traveling this time of year," Fitzgerald said. "That it can be a nightmare."
After her flight was canceled, Fitzgerald tried to book one on American Airlines only to find out it would cost $1,000. Southwest told her they would reimburse some of the cost of a ticket on another airline but didn't offer specifics.
Fitzgerald planned to try to rent a car and drive home.
Approximately 15% of flights at MHT have been canceled since Dec. 17, according to a statement from the airport. Most were caused by the winter storm, which brought heavy rain, snow and high winds to much of the country.
"We remain in close contact with our airline partners and expect that it will take several more days to get operations back on track. We'd like to thank our passengers for their patience and understanding," the statement said.
Other headaches included lost luggage and travelers scrambling to find hotel accommodations.
"We highly encourage passengers to check with their airlines before heading to the airport and to reach out to their airlines if they need to rebook or reschedule travel," the airport statement read.
Fitzgerald's mother, Joan, said most of Southwest's business is done online, making it difficult to reschedule flights. Instead of trying to call, they drove to the airport.
Nationwide, Southwest scrapped another 2,474 flights for Wednesday, compared to seven by Frontier Airlines and five by Delta, according to tracking website FlightAware.
The arctic blast has caused Southwest to eliminate more than 12,000 flights since Friday.
Southwest earns most of its profits on domestic travel, and unlike other large U.S. carriers, it relies more on point-to-point service than a hub model. That leaves its crews vulnerable to being stranded in case of disruptions.
"The other airlines likely had manageable cancellations and delays, and actually appear to have recovered (in time to get everyone home)," Cowen analyst Helane Becker said in a note.
Airline plans draw scrutiny
Southwest said on Monday it had decided to continue operating a reduced schedule by flying roughly one-third of its planned flights "for the next several days." It declined further comment on Tuesday.
Its troubles have invited scrutiny from the U.S. Transportation Department, which has said it would examine the widespread disruptions to determine if they were in the airline's control, branding them "unacceptable."
Brenna Fitzgerald's headaches mounted as she remained stranded.
"I have someone watching my dog, I have my car at the airport garage," she said. "I have to work on Thursday."
The rental car might be the only way to get home in time.
"Or convincing my mom to drive down with me," she said.
Material from Reuters was used in this report.
