Southwest Airlines flight cancellations cause disruptions for USD students

More than 2000 flight cancellations made it difficult to return back to campus

Karisa Kampbell / News Editor / The USD Vista

October is in full bloom and fall beginnings are starting to appear in the San Diego weather, and with that comes the halfway point of the semester. While midterms are at the forefront of most students’ minds, many are using the weekends leading up to Halloween to make trips home to visit family and friends. Flying, however, took an unexpected turn recently. 

On the weekend of Oct. 9, Southwest airlines cancelled more than 2000 flights, causing major issues for many USD students trying to get back to San Diego before their Monday or Tuesday classes. 

While these issues may not have been as severe in a hybrid learning environment, since most classes at USD are only offered in person, with no requirement for teachers to post lectures, these flight cancellations caused major anxiety to some students. 

There are many reasons for these Southwest flight cancellations. According to a CNN article, weather, limited staffing, and air traffic control problems were some of the most prominent causes for nearly 3 in every 10 Southwest flights to be cancelled. 

Speculation also occurred, according to the CNN article, that since Southwest Airlines recently announced that it will be requiring all employees to be vaccinated, many pilots decided to not fly as a form of protest. This theory however, was proven false. 

Being eight weeks through the semester, many students are using weekends to visit home and rejuvenate after midterms. Sophomore, Mitchell Bauer, returned home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the weekend; however, he faced great difficulty returning to San Diego for his classes on Tuesday due to his flight getting cancelled. 

“I was supposed to fly back on Monday, but a couple of hours before my flight I got a notification basically telling me not to go to the airport because my flight had been cancelled,” Bauer explained. “I couldn’t get on another flight to San Diego until Wednesday. It sucked.” 

Bauer also explained how stressful this was given USD is currently in the middle of midterm season. 

“Tuesdays are definitely my busiest days, I have four classes, so having to miss Tuesday because of a dumb flight cancellation when I specifically planned to come back on Monday was very frustrating. I was very upset,” Bauer said. “Luckily my professors were understanding, but it was still a stressful situation.” 

While the world has grown accustomed to living with the pandemic, COVID-19 still manages to find new ways to disrupt society through its lasting effects, such as the Southwest Airlines flight cancellations. The world may have accepted a new normal, but it is still  important to remain flexible as more instances like the major flight cancellations are likely to happen due to COVID-19.