Thousands more flights were canceled Monday Southwest Airlines as the effects of winter storms and operational challenges continued to impact holiday travel.
The big picture: The Department of Transportation tweeted that it would look into the actions of Souhwest, which accounted for a large amount of the more than 3,90s flight cancelations and 8,200-plus delays within, into or out of the U.S. as of late Monday, per FlightAware data.
- The airline canceled nearly 70% of its 2,886 flights Monday and 60% of some 2,400, planned Tuesday flights, according to the flight tracking website.
- The DOT saud it's "concerned by Southwest's unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service" and "will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan."
What they're saying: Southwest issued a statement Monday apologizing for the disruption.
- "With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a significant way that is unacceptable," Southwest said Monday.
- "We are working with safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by re-balancing the airline and repositioning crews and our fleet, ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us. And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning."
- Representatives for Southwest did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Editor's note: This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
