Holiday travelers stranded after nearly 100 Southwest flights in and out of John Wayne Airport were canceled

Southwest Airlines canceled the majority of its flights Monday and Tuesday, leaving scores of people traveling in and out of John Wayne Airport and travel hubs across the country stuck over the winter holiday.

As many as 2,574 of all the 2,990 canceled trips that were supposed to come through airports in the United States Tuesday were Southwest flights, according to the website FlightAware.

“This is the largest scale event that I’ve ever seen,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

As of 10 a.m., Tuesday, 94 out of 121 of the airline’s remaining departures and arrivals at John Wayne Airport were grounded. That left thousands stranded. Some stayed at the travel hub in hopes of hopping on a different plane, but there had been no reports of extreme crowding at JWA so far, airport spokeswoman AnnaSophia Servin said Tuesday.

“Some were in the midst of travel and wound up at the terminal trying to figure things out,” Servin said.

As many as 99 of the Southwest’s flights in and out of LAX and 170 going through San Diego International Airport were also dropped.

Motorists make their way into John Wayne Airport on Tuesday in Santa Ana. Southwest Airlines canceled a majority of its flights in and out of John Wayne Airport and travel hubs across the country Monday and Tuesday.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

Cancellations and delays amid this year’s holiday travel season were largely the results of Winter Storm Elliott, which battered the eastern half of the U.S. More than 30 people died as snow trapped some in their homes and high winds led to power outages amid subzero temperatures.

Southwest dropped flights amid the storm “to protect the integrity of the entire Southwest Network, and to limit prolonged exposure in dangerous working conditions,” airline representatives wrote in a statement. On Tuesday, it announced that only about a third of the flights scheduled would actually take off that day. Over 2,900 of its trips had also been canceled on Monday.

“With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our Customers and Employees in a significant way that is unacceptable,” Southwest representatives wrote Tuesday.

The airline is rescheduling flights for those affected by cancellations. More information can be found at southwest.com/traveldisruption/.

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