Trouble caused by canceled flights continues at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Post-Christmas chaos continues at the Atlanta as Southwest Airlines started the day with another round of cancellations.
The Department of Transportation is now vowing to get involved with the mess that has left thousands missing Christmas and now, possibly, New Year’s plans.
“Never had a problem with southwest, so I’m very confident,” said Kelly Crinshaw, who is flying Southwest to West Palm Beach.
While Kelly Crinshaw and her husband are making their flight today, Southwest has already announced that more delays are on the way
“Our plan for the next few days is to fly a reduced schedule and reposition our people and planes. And we’re making headway and we’re optimistic to be back on track before next week,” said Bob Joran, the airline’s CEO.
“It was a little shocking, you know, for Southwest. I’m sure they’re going to get everything remedied quickly. I mean, it could’ve been delta, it could’ve been united, it could’ve been anybody,” said Crinshaw.
But the Department of Transportation isn’t so sure that’s true. They’ve opened a special investigation into if a large number of Southwest’s cancellations were within the airline’s control and not just solely based on weather.
“I want passengers to know that this department has their back. We are going to be holding the airline accountable for the way they treat passengers,” said Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Transportation secretary.
It’s not just southwest experiencing problems. Frontier customers are full of frustration.
“Horrible because we’re waiting two hours just to get to the first checkpoint. This is only the first part, we didn’t even get through security,” said Jorvan, who’s flying to San Juan.
Several people who came to the airport on time tell Atlanta News First that they missed their flights because of the wait to check bags.
“Tell us to come earlier. You said to come three hours, I’m here three hours and I’m still waiting three hours,” said Jorvan.
Several senators have called on Southwest to give affected travelers significant monetary compensation for the disruption to their holiday plans.
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