CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Southwest Airlines canceled more than 1,000 of its flights nationwide over the weekend, leaving many of Monday morning’s travelers a bit on edge over the fates of their flights.
The departures board at Midway showed just a handful of cancellations through the Monday morning rush, with about 10 arrival cancellations during that same timeframe.
Alyssa Gravelle and her family are going to Tampa, Florida.
"We were terrified. We’ve been watching the flights constantly, but we’re very excited that it’s on," Gravelle said.
Michael Burton and his wife Tammy are traveling Monday with their 2-year-old twins. Their flight is on.
"I woke up at 1 o’clock this morning just to check to make sure it wasn’t canceled. It’s a lot of mayhem going on," Tammy Burton said.
"We were worried, because it took us a little while and we’ve got the twins and all this extra luggage, so we just prayed our flight is okay and we can get to Atlanta ‘cause the last thing we need is to entertain our little ones," Michael Burton added.
One man who had dealt with the weekend cancellations and was back at the airport Monday called it "just a pain."
Southwest blamed the problem on weather and air traffic issues, but the FAA said there weren’t any air traffic issues. One longtime employee called it “poor management."
And while Dawn Marie Callaway said she's "very happy that my flight's going to be on. I'm ready to get home, my body's a little sore," after running in Sunday's Chicago Marathon, she said she's not buying Southwest Airline’s explanation of weather and air traffic issues.
"I think they’re probably making an excuse for something else that’s going on," she said.
Andrew Combs’ Southwest flight to Arizona was cancelled Saturday night out of O’Hare and he re-scheduled for Monday morning out of Midway. He also agreed with Callaway on Southwest’s explanation.
"It didn’t make sense," Combs said.
Combs has an idea of what he thinks was behind the cancellations.
"We heard it had something to do with the vaccination mandates," Combs said.
WBBM: You think it might be that?
Oh, I’m pretty sure it is," Combs said.
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