Local

‘They have no flights’: Passengers of major airline left stranded at Logan after Christmas weekend

BOSTON – Thousands of Southwest passengers are left stranded at airports across the country, including Logan Airport in Boston, as they try to get home after the Christmas holiday.

“They’re saying first it was weather, then it was the holidays, then now flight crews are all displaced,” said Taylor Stockett.

Stockett’s flight just got canceled from Boston to Austin, Texas.

“They said I can’t even fly until the 31st, so they have like no flights, no availability at all they’re saying every seat is taken,” said Stockett.

According to Flight Aware, about 70 percent of Southwest flights were canceled as of Monday night. As of Tuesday morning, 82 percent of Southwest flights were canceled.

“This is the first time I’ve flown Southwest in my life,” said James, who is trying to fly back to Nashville from Boston. “They’re not giving us any options to change our flights, we’re flying out now on the 30th, no vouchers for staying in a hotel.”

Southwest Airlines says it’s recovering from operational challenges after several days of extreme weather across the country.

Southwest issued a statement Monday, saying in part, “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.”

“Well, they didn’t offer anything, they didn’t offer a hotel, they didn’t offer any sort of assistance whatsoever other than a refund,” said Stockett.

Many flying Southwest out of Logan Airport can’t get another flight until the end of the week.

Southwest went on to say, “we anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period.”

“We just want to go home at this point, you know I think it’s been a long rest period with the family and now it’s time to go back home,” said James.

Southwest also says they’ll be reaching out to customers this week about alternative options especially ahead of another busy travel weekend for New Years.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it will look into the cancellations.

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