Southwest has canceled hundreds of flights because of weather and maintenance issues — and passengers are furious

• Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 400 flights on Thursday and delayed hundreds more.
• In a statement to Business Insider, a Southwest spokesperson pointed to a statement from head of operations, Mike Van de Ven on Wednesday, in which the executive blamed ongoing negotiations with a mechanics union for an “unprecedented” number of flight delays.
• Some passengers were frustrated and took to Twitter to vent.

Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 400 flights on Thursday and delayed hundreds more as its scuffle with a mechanics union and unusual winter weather in Las Vegas wreaked havoc on its operations.

By 3 pm Eastern, the low-cost carrier had canceled 388 flights, or 9% of its scheduled service, and delayed 488 others, according to flight aware, leaving some customers furious.

@SouthwestAir what did I do wrong?

You canceled my flight this morning, then canceled my rebooked flight.

Then I actually drove a rental car 4 hours to make my meeting and you cancel my return flight home…

I think we need to chat about our relationship.

— Josh Sinclair (@vSinclairJ) February 21, 2019

In a statement to Business Insider, a Southwest spokesperson pointed to a statement from head of operations, Mike Van de Ven on Wednesday, in which the executive blamed ongoing negotiations with a mechanics union for an “unprecedented” number of flight delays.

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