Hundreds of flight cancelations, delays reported as spring break travel season begins

By KSTP

Spring break travel issues

Spring break travel issues

Spring break travel plans are being disrupted across the country, as hundreds of flights are canceled or delayed.

Southwest Airlines has been hit especially hard, with about 1,300 delays nationwide. As of early Monday morning, there are only two canceled flights and five delays both in and out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP.)

However, those who were at MSP on Sunday had a different story.

Flight Aware reports at MSP that travelers saw five cancelations and more than 160 delays, with the majority of the problems coming from the weather in Florida.

Southwest Airlines was one of the airlines hit the hardest, again, about 1,300 delays nationwide on Sunday.

Airline officials blamed the travel issues on “widespread pop-up thunderstorms and airspace constraints cross Florida” on Saturday.

ABC News reports some passengers were stranded at Orlando’s Airport for 24 hours, seeing their flight canceled seven times.

You’ll remember there was a similar situation with Southwest back in late 2022, as nearly 17,000 cancellations ruined people’s holiday travel plans, and prompted the Department of Transportation to hand down a $140 million penalty against the airline and forcing Southwest to implement a compensation system that includes a $75 flight credit to any passenger whose flight gets delayed more than three hours when it’s the airline’s fault.

“What we’re doing here is sending a message to the entire airline industry – you need to take care of your passengers and if you don’t, there will be consequences,” said Pete Buttigieg, Secretary for the U.S. Transportation Department.