After Southwest canceled thousands of flights nationwide, operations returned to normal on Friday.
PHOENIX – Friday was a welcome change for Southwest passengers. Operations were normal and almost all scheduled flights took off.
On Monday, Southwest employees told passengers that 90% of their flights out of Sky Harbor were canceled and no flights were available for four days and advised people to go home.
“Our flight on the 26th was scheduled for the 2nd,” said Calley, a Southwest passenger.
Calley and his family visited his parents in San Fransico over Christmas. Instead, they would have to borrow a car from his father and drive 17 hours to Tempe to get home.
“So we’re crazy enough to go back to the airport and give it another ride in the same week,” Calley said.
He’s a loyal Southwest customer and expects the airline to make it right. On Friday, he flew without a hitch to visit friends in Albuquerque.
According to FlightAware, Southwest canceled just three flights at Sky Harbor.
This meant that Pauletta Bartley could carry out a tradition with a best friend by her side.
“We have a long tradition of going to the Rose Parade every year,” Bartley said.
Bartley waited with her grandchildren for the arrival of a lifelong friend. She admitted that they didn’t know the trip was going to happen until this morning.
“She’s here, on the ground,” Bartley said.
The entire group will travel to California to watch the parade for the 45th year in a row.
“Now our family is complete. Now we can go to the Rose Parade,” Bartley said.
There will be many questions to be answered in the coming weeks and months about what needs to be done to prevent this from happening again. However, passengers on Friday were happy for a return to normalcy.
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