Santa Barbara airport feels the impact of massive Southwest flight cancellations | Local News
While Santa Barbara didn’t have the extreme wintry weather that most of the rest of the country experienced over the holiday weekend, flight cancellations and delays – especially from South West Airlines flights — continue to affect Santa Barbara Airport.
According to a Los Angeles Times articlemore than 3,000 flights were canceled across the United States on Tuesday, including 85% for Southwest.
While Southwest blames inclement weather, several employees and aviation industry experts cite “outdated technology and vulnerable company operations” for the significant number of cancellations and delays.
“[The U.S. Department of Transportation] is concerned about Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and reports of a lack of prompt customer service,” the department said in a Posting on Twitter Monday. “The department will review whether the cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.”
According to Santa Barbara Airport real-time arrivals and departures pagethere were at least five cancellations to and from SBA on Tuesday – all for southwest flights – and at least three canceled arrivals and three canceled departures of southwest flights on Wednesday.
Additionally, all Southwest flights to and from the Santa Barbara airport on Wednesday were canceled or delayed, even those flying into California where the winter storm did not reach.
Many people are now dealing with cancellations and wondering how to get to their destination.
One person said Noozhawk that their flight from Santa Barbara to Oakland was canceled and she now has to be driven by someone in the Bay Area.
“I couldn’t catch a flight until New Year’s Eve, and my options were to do a seven-hour route through Vegas or wait until 6 p.m. to leave Santa Barbara to arrive at the bay at 7 p.m. “said traveler Diamonne Mitchell. “I’m supposed to drive up to Tahoe on New Years morning to beat the weather and we have an Airbnb – non-refundable – so that has a lot of impact.”
In one statement which Southwest Airlines released on Monday, it said its “sincere apologies for this are just beginning” and that the airline will be operating on a reduced schedule for the next few days.
“As we continue to work to recover our operations, we have made the decision to continue to operate a reduced schedule by flying approximately one-third of our schedule for the next few days,” the statement read. “On the other hand, we will work to make things right for those we have let down, including our employees.”
Meanwhile, Washington Senator Maria Cantwellpresident of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportationannounced that the committee would also investigate the cause of Southwest’s cancellations.
“Southwest Airlines’ problems over the past few days go beyond the weather,” Cantwell said in a statement. statement Tuesday. “The committee will look into the causes of these disruptions and their impacts on consumers. Many airlines do not properly communicate with consumers during flight cancellations. Consumers deserve strong protections, including an updated consumer refund rule. »
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