The holiday hangover is particularly bad for U.S. air carriers as severe weather disruptions have continued to lead to thousands of flights being canceled around the country.
By Monday afternoon, nearly 3,000 flights into and out of the U.S. had already been canceled and almost 5,000 had been delayed.
Southwest Airlines accounted for more than 2,300 of those cancellations — over half of its scheduled trips for the day, according to FlightAware.
Social media posts from some of the country’s major airports, including San Francisco International Airport and Denver International Airport, show incredibly long lines and piles of luggage. Outages for customer service lines were also reported.
Southwest said it was also experiencing major disruptions at Las Vegas, Chicago Midway, Baltimore/Washington and Dallas Love Field, some of the airline’s major hubs.
“Those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire,” Southwest said.
U.S. airlines have now canceled more than 17,000 domestic flights since last Wednesday, with cold, wind and snow disrupting holiday travel plans.
Delta, American, United and JetBlue were among the other airlines to face weather-related disruptions.
The number of cancellations is expected to slow as warmer weather returns to the parts of the country that were blasted by harsh winter conditions over the last few days.
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