Over 100 Southwest Airlines flights were canceled on Wednesday at Oakland International Airport as the airline reduced schedules over the next few days.
Nearly 150 Southwest flights were canceled at Mineta San Jose International Airport on Wednesday.
According to FlightAware, Southwest canceled more than 2,500 flights nationwide on Wednesday.
“They are trying to get things moving again,” Oakland International spokesperson John Albrecht said about Southwest.
According to Albrecht, Southwest appears to have enough staff at the airport. Sixty-two of the cancellations at Oakland International were departures.
He said that the airport is calm and moderately busy, but quite a few bags still need to be reunited with passengers.
Located in Oakland is the largest Southwest Airlines operating in California, with about 120 flights a day. Oakland is also a flight attendant, pilot, and maintenance base for Southwest.
A spokesperson said Wednesday that Southwest plans to operate one-third of its schedule over the next several days.
Customers can rebook or request a refund at southwest.com/traveldisruption.
Southwest said it is also working to create a resource to reconnect passengers with their bags.
Passengers can get help rebooking a Southwest flight by clicking here.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday that he expects Southwest to meet its duties to its passengers and workers and to take steps to be sure something similar doesn’t occur.
“Now we’ve never seen a situation, at least not on my watch, with this volume of disruptions so this is going to take an extraordinary level of effort by Southwest and we will mount an extraordinary effort to make sure that they’re meeting their obligations,” Buttigieg said through his press office.
Last weekend, Southwest said it is fully staffed and prepared for the holiday travel. According to the airline, severe weather caused the changes to its flight schedules.
