Southwest cancels 100+ flights out of Orlando International Airport Thursday: Flight Aware

Tension growing at Orlando airport as Southwest continues to cancel more flights
As of Thursday morning, there are 118 flight cancellations at the Orlando International Airport and 111 of those are from Southwest Airlines, according to Flight Aware – leaving several frustrated travelers stranded in Orlando.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Update: Southwest said Thursday afternoon that it plans to resume normal operations with "minimal disruptions" on Friday, Dec. 30.
Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights across the U.S. on Thursday with more than one hundred being canceled out of Orlando International Airport (MCO).
As of Thursday morning, there are 118 flight cancellations at MCO and 111 of those are from Southwest Airlines, according to Flight Aware – leaving several frustrated travelers stranded in Orlando.
While most airlines are averaging about a 5% cancelation rate, Southwest is sitting at 70%.
The biggest question is why is this happening.
According to Southwest, the airline has a different business model from other airlines. It doesn’t give flight crews a home base – instead they jump from place to place.
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The winter storm prevented crews from being able to get to where they needed to be, and systems kept crashing preventing the company from getting back on track.
"I want everyone who is dealing with the problems we've been facing, whether you haven't been able to get to where you need to go or you’re one of our heroic Employees caught up in a massive effort to stabilize the airline, to know is that we're doing everything we can to return to a normal operation," Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said in a video posted Tuesday night to Southwest's website.
"And please also hear that I'm truly sorry," he said.
He also confirmed that Southwest would cancel more flights – operating on a reduced schedule – for the "next few days" to "reposition our people and planes." He's hopeful that Southwest would be "back on track before next week."
With this being the holiday season – many folks are stretched financially and finding a way around the mess can be costly if you have to rent a car, a hotel and pay for food, as those are expenses that have to be paid upfront.
The best advice right now for passengers dealing with canceled flights is to save your receipts.
Southwest said they will reimburse those who have to pay for hotels, cars and food because of the delay. They say you can submit a claim here. Although they haven’t said when you could get that money.
As for your flight, you can get that reimbursed online or at the check-in counter.