Many Metro Detroiters were impacted by the wave of flight cancellations over the weekend.
Southwest Airlines passengers were stranded at the airport Tuesday after the airline canceled nearly two-thirds of its flights nationwide.
According to FlightAware, the airline canceled nearly 90% of its flights departing Detroit Tuesday.
A family of four heading for Denver wasn’t alerted about the flight cancellation until they arrived at the check-in counter. The airline wasn’t able to book them on another flight for several days, so they decided to drive instead.
The canceled flights have a ripple effect on vacation plans.
“Five days of ski passes, we have accommodations, we’re supposed to go dog sledding tomorrow,” Christine DuFour said. “Everything of which is like a 48-hour cancellation policy.”
Southwest said the cancellations are due to fallout from bad weather over the weekend. However, travel experts say it’s due to issues with the airline’s tight scheduling and an antiquated phone system employees use to communicate with the airline.
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