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Major airlines are making this change after cancelling thousands of flights! Executives announced that the airlines have a plan to alleviate holiday travel headaches.
If the past few months were any indication of what the coming months will bring, it’s going to be a brutal holiday travel season for Americans taking to the skies to see loved ones or just get away from home. Major airlines have struggled to meet customer demands and have canceled thousands of flights, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in airports across the country. Fortunately, executives have realized that this problem needs to be resolved before the holiday season ends. Read on to learn what steps major airlines are taking to keep operations running as smoothly as possible in the coming weeks, and what you can expect when you book your flights and arrive at the airport.
Southwest Airlines is cutting flights and adding staff to deal with the holiday rush.
Southwest Airlines caused unrest among passengers last month by canceling 1,800 flights, blaming problems with air traffic control and weather. However, staffing shortages are a known source of problems throughout the airline industry (and beyond). To mitigate the potential for a chaotic season, Southwest has cut its flight schedule for November and December. The airline is also beefing up its staff ahead of the holiday travel season, which begins on Thanksgiving and continues through Christmas and into the new year
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Southwest is also aiming to double its reserve staffing levels.
“Our reserves are over 20 percent for our crews, which helps us operate every single day,” Southwest’s new CEO Bob Jordan told Yahoo Finance Live. Reserve personnel are on call to take over flights when needed.
This jump would be a big help to the airline’s staffing situation. Southwest had half as many reserve personnel on standby in October, when the airline was forced to cancel thousands of flights.
“It’s all about reliability,” Jordan continued. “Our customers need to get where they want to go, and they need to be able to count on us because they’re counting on us to get them to the important things in their lives, weddings and family visits on vacation.”
Other airlines are also adding flights back into their holiday schedules.
A jump in COVID-19 cases due to the highly contagious Delta variant and declining vaccinations have caused demand for travel to drop in August and September. However, major airlines predict the upcoming holiday season will be just as busy as it was before the pandemic, as travelers are unwilling to give up another Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s with loved ones. Delta Airlines noted “robust holiday demand and expected improvement in corporate and outbound demand” in its Q3 report. And United Airlines plans to restore its holiday schedule to 91 percent of its 2019 offerings, CNBC reports. With 3,500 flights per day planned for December, the airline will operate more flights than at any time since the pandemic began.
Millions of travelers are expected to fly during the holiday season.
The airlines’ efforts to increase staff and adjust schedules is welcome news for U.S. travelers, who have already experienced major frustrations due to this year’s challenges across the industry.
According to the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), about 2.6 million people passed through airport security checkpoints every day during the Thanksgiving holiday in 2019, and about 2.5 million passengers a day during Christmas week. Southwest’s Jordan told Yahoo that this holiday season “follows the curve…. And you’re going to see load factors that are pretty typical.” So the goal of any major airline will be to manage load factors.