El Pasoans Stranded Around The Country Thanks To Southwest

Thousands of flights were canceled around the country thanks to Southwest Airlines and El Pasoans were left without a flight home.

Nearly two thousand flights were canceled over the weekend and the cancelations keep coming for Southwest Airlines. What we don't know is why exactly this is happening. According to USA Today, the mass cancellations began on Saturday and have continued on into the week. The website Flight Aware has reported there are 365 Southwest Airlines flights that have already been canceled this morning.

With so many flights being canceled, there are plenty of El Pasoans who were traveling for the holiday weekend who have now found themselves stuck with few options to get home to El Paso on schedule. One couple traveling from Austin back to El Paso said they tried to get two economy tickets on another airline for the same day and we're being told it would cost them $3,700. The couple ended up having a family member drive from El Paso to go get them and then they drove back to town.

Another El Pasoan voiced their frustration on the NextDoor website about their less than ideal options to get back home to El Paso:

"Some, like me will land hundreds of miles away and spend their own money ($217 for me) to rent a car to drive to their final destination. My choice was to wait in Nashville until Wednesday, at my own expense, to get a flight to El Paso or wait 8 1/2 hours to get on a plane to Austin, get on a plane to Albuquerque, and then drive to El Paso, ETA 1:00 am."

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

With so many flights being canceled and people being stranded, many want to know who is to blame for these issues. Southwest Airlines' official story is there are Air Traffic Control (ATC) and weather issues causing the high volume of cancellations but the FAA's Flight Delay website shows no significant issues. There are rumors the flight issues come from Southwest's new vaccine mandate but other airlines have similar mandates and did not have mass cancellations that have been seen with Southwest. No word on what the exact cause for the issues are but hopefully they end soon.