Hundreds of flights canceled at PHX Sky Harbor, Southwest Airlines experiencing major issues

PHOENIX — Hundreds of flights have been canceled at Phoenix Sky Harbor as travelers try to return from their holiday trips.

As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Phoenix airport reported 112 canceled flights and 70 delayed flights.

At one point Monday, the airport reported more than 220 cancellations.

A large majority of the canceled flights are from Southwest Airlines, which said on Sunday that they were experiencing issues due to lingering weather across the country.

At the airport, Southwest officials informed frustrated passengers that 90% of flights are canceled and there are no flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor for several days.

“I went to check my bag and that’s when the notification came up that my flight was canceled. There were four-hour waits. Then they said no one’s getting on a Southwest flight for four days, ‘We can’t help you, go home,’” said passenger Kara Dyrek.

Shannon Wilson waited almost three hours for her bags on Monday. She says she was told one was in Chicago, though she's never been, and the other may be in Vegas, where she had to fly to.

"It was stressful. It was really stressful. Just trying to find your stuff to see where it is, and you don't know if you'd find it or not," she said.

Wilson was in a wheelchair Wednesday as she waited. She told ABC15 her ankles swelled up from standing in lines the last several days, and she also had to sleep at the airport.

She certainly wasn't the only one.

Tarikah Evans also had to spend the night there after her flight kept getting delayed and then ultimately canceled.

"The next day, it was crazy, because there was no way to get information on what to do," Evans said.

Officials with Southwest Airlines released the following statement Monday:

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.

And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.

We’re working with Safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning Crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us.

We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity.

This safety-first work is intentional, ongoing, and necessary to return to normal reliability, one that minimizes last-minute inconveniences. We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period. And we’re working to reach to Customers whose travel plans will change with specific information and their available options.

Our Employees and Crews scheduled to work this holiday season are showing up in every single way. We are beyond grateful for that. Our shared goal is to take care of every single Customer with the Hospitality and Heart for which we’re known.

On the other side of this, we’ll work to make things right for those we’ve let down, including our Employees.

With no concern higher than ultimate Safety, the People of Southwest share a goal to take care of each and every Customer. We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize.

The union of Southwest Airlines flight attendants, TWU Local 556, released a statement Monday, in part saying:

The way Southwest Airlines has treated its flight crews can only be termed ‘despicable.' We know the demands of holiday travel. We know winter storms. And believe me, we know about stepping up and putting in long work hours when we are called to do so; we are flight attendants. But at this point, the many years of failure by management, despite many unions’ demands to modernize, has left flight attendants fatigued, stranded, hungry and cold – on Christmas! This impacts lives and threatens safety for all.

While we are stranded, on hold with scheduling, trying to understand where and how we are going to sleep that night, we are also often answering passengers’ questions and hearing their desperate concerns as they, too, are also left wondering what will happen to them. We are tired of saying ‘I’m sorry,’ to our customers when we are faced with the same obstacles. For our customers and our crews, Southwest Airlines has to Make It Right!

The company’s failures are happening year-round, but are particularly egregious on Christmas. Our customers struggled with it just as our thousands of flight attendants did. These are issues that you can’t solve with holiday pay; this is time and quality of life that we will never get back.

To check the latest cancellations and delays at Sky Harbor, or Mesa Gateway, click here.

The United States Department of Transportation is investigating the situation with Southwest airlines to determine whether cancellations were controllable and if the airline is complying with its customer service plan, according to a tweet.