Airline that paid record fine canceled flights again during the holidays in the US.

In the peak travel season in the United States, in which millions of people cross the territory with the intention of spending the holidays with their family or vacationing, many were disappointed because there were different flight cancellations and delays, highlighting the case of an airline that, for this reason, was fined last year.

Although conditions for travelers were more favorable in 2023 compared to last year, according to the tracking service FlightAwareabout 157 flights to, from or within the US were canceled on Christmas Day, while 2,058 were delayed.

While the numbers sound high, considering historical records, only 1.2 percent of U.S. flights had been canceled so far this year, which is the lowest figure in five years, according to CBS News. This occurred in the context of the forecast of a 16 percent increase in travelers throughout the territory.

But the chances of having a timely and happy trip also vary with respect to the airline and the airport. For example, many travelers at Chicago's Midway International Airport were stranded on Christmas Eve, especially those who had a flight scheduled with Southwest Airlines which, as in 2022, once again experienced significant problems.

The company assured that the cancellation and delay of its flights was due to the fog that occurred in Chicago. However, passengers told the outlet that it was also a problem caused by a shortage of workers.

In addition to this, passengers at Denver International Airport also had to face problems, since Southwest Airlines canceled 293 flights last Sunday and nearly 1,300 of its trips were delayed.

According to figures provided by the airline itself, canceled nineteen flights yesterday, which represents two percent of their daily trips. Likewise, it reported that 693 of its trips were delayed, compared to companies such as Delta, which canceled eight flights, or United Airlines, which canceled six.

In addition to the anger of passengers due to the cancellation of flights, the airport was in complete chaos, since in order to recover their checked bags, many had to wait in a line for more than three hours.

In a statement, the company said it was doing everything possible to be able to rearrange passengers and take them to their destinations. There, he noted that Chicago Midway is its fourth busiest airport, with more than 200 daily departures scheduled over the holiday weekend, and apologized for the inconvenience.

Southwest Airlines was fined last year for its poor performance

The results in 2023 will surely be bad news for the company because, according to reports, At the beginning of December, it had reached an agreement for US$140,000,000 with the Federal Government to compensate for the damage last year, which left more than 2,000,000 travelers stranded. during the holidays.

“This is a message to the entire airline industry: you must take care of passengers, or we will use all our authority to hold you accountable,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote on December 18 via X, formerly Twitter.

It should be noted that The fine was additional to the US$600,000,000 settlement that the airline allocated to refunds for its customers.. And last year the problem was not only due to the weather, but a collapse of its entire system occurred, which is why the authorities considered that it was an unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays, in addition to a lack of service to the customer.