TAMPA -- Southwest Airlines has cancelled more than 360 flights today (Monday), on top of about two thousand cancellations over the weekend.
Aviation analyst Jay Ratliff says it's a bad omen for Thanksgiving and Christmas travel. He tells Newsradio WFLA's AM Tampa Bay, "if you want kind of a 'coming attraction' to what this holiday season could be, you can see it... we're seeing a lot of flights canceled over the holidays, not being replaced with anything else, and it's coming down to staffing." Ratliff says airline stocks could suffer if delays become widespread through the industry over the holidays.
Ratliff says employee shortages caused a "rough" summer for Southwest. While the company blamed air traffic control and weather, Ratliff says that had "minimal" impact on other airlines.
Ratliff also says some Southwest pilots and crews didn't have a place to sleep for the night, which contributed to delays.
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