SAN DIEGO - A pilot for Southwest is sharing his thoughts as to why the airline is experiencing mass cancellations.
The weather has been an issue for Southwest, but most of the cancellations this week can be attributed to operational issues, including a staffing shortage.
"What we do with Southwest, what we've done from our inception has been, we go from Austin to San Antonio to Dallas, we go from Denver to Colorado Springs to Albuquerque, and that point-to-point system is something that the legacies don't do, they have the ability to cancel flights in the hub and then recover in the hubs," Cpt. Tom Nekouei, Second Vice President of the Southwest Airlines Association told NBC 7.
Southwest's point to point system creates a domino effect for cancellations and the manual scheduling process can create problems when trying to reroute flights, crews and passengers. The Department of Transportation is looking into the cancellations.
Southwest has created a special page on its website to help passengers rebook or cancel flights during this travel disruption.
Photo: Getty Images