This week, the airline had to delay or outright cancel 60 percent of its nationwide flights during one of the busiest traveling times of the year. The record-breaking blizzard that hit the Northeast is partly to blame, but some travel analysts and at least one member of Congress are speculating that internal corporate problems like poor communication channels, obsolete tech and sloppy scheduling are a major cause for the massive delays, according to a report from NPR's All Things Considered.
Meanwhile, thousands of people are stranded on tarmacs and in airport terminals trying to get to their original destination or just trying to get back home after a hectic holiday. Since there's not much to do in an airport besides pay inflated prices for a convenience store turkey club, many people are taking their frustration to social media and churning out content that will at least give their fellow stranded travelers something to smile about while they wait for the airline to get its act together.
For instance, Kalepopsicle posted on Reddit something that stranded passengers can do to help people stuck in airports all across the country. As flights get canned, luggage is starting to pile up in places they were never intended to go, so the Redditor suggests people do what Southwest seems to be incapable of doing: calling the phone numbers on the tags stuck to the lost luggage.
Stoolie Memes posted a video on Twitter of the lineups that Southwest has created. For the humorless, it should be noted that this is satire. It's really footage of 5 million Argentinians celebrating the return of the national soccer team.
Ellie Hert on TikTok is stuck at Love Field, where insult and injury inevitably collide. Here's her reaction.Current line at Dallas Love Field for Southwest Airlines pic.twitter.com/qdaJUI4CC0
— stoolie memes (@StoolieMemes) December 27, 2022
@elliehert I’m overstimulated. #anditssohard #traveling #lovefield #southwest ♬ Day After Tomorrow - Phoebe Bridgers
Twitter's GIF use is on point during this disaster, like this great shot of Kieran Culkin doomscrolling on HBO's Succession.
@CamBNewton uses one of the most iconic and bleepable moments on AMC's Breaking Bad to perfectly encapsulate Southwest's response to this whole mess.The social team at Southwest Airlines this morning
— Christian Benavides (@chrb_tx) December 27, 2022
pic.twitter.com/Dtp48iCh1E
Some people got a bit petty, not gonna lie.“I want to get on a flight before 2023”
— Cameron (@CamBNewton) December 27, 2022
Southwest Airlines: pic.twitter.com/Ni1jR26iJY
And others, pretty dramatic.United, American, Delta, and Jet Blue customers in the airport walking past Southwest customers to their flights. pic.twitter.com/WLzNnaULch
— Petty Pablo (@electricsoul123) December 27, 2022
We don't want to be sad sacks about this whole thing the entire time, which is why this positive tweet offers a nice change of pace from the understandable grumbling over Southwest's dropping the ball.Me checking my Southwest flight status this morning to see I could actually go home pic.twitter.com/sftJKZ1Lga
— ❄️🎄Wreath Nagy🎄❄️ (@nagy_minaj) December 27, 2022
It's going to take days at the very least for Southwest to repair the damage from all these cancellations and delays. They better start doing some stretches or something if they don't want to pull a muscle.Southwest,@SouthwestAir, thank you for the last minutes seat…finally on the way home.. pic.twitter.com/U8h4ldPQa4
— Andri,N (@valenceCapital) December 27, 2022
Finally, this tweet from the official Dallas Love Field Twitter page wasn't intended to be funny, just a cute way to spread the word about the company during the holidays with a holiday-themed selfie station. Just imagine what kind of pictures people are taking now and preparing to post once they get home. Southwest will be lucky if they get their Christmas tree back in one piece.Southwest getting warmed up for another round of cancellations.
— Jeff Ruff 🏴☠️ (@jeff_ruff) December 27, 2022
pic.twitter.com/bAqheAPRMe
Don’t forget to snap that Christmas Elfie 🤳 & tag us @dallaslovefield so we can share your photos on our social pages! 😊 #TravelWithLove pic.twitter.com/RNqgYwyH6c
— Dallas Love Field (@DallasLoveField) December 23, 2022
