一个巨大的暴风雨大雪覆盖了美国大部分地区，减缓了旺季的航空旅行，并导致数万次航班取消。然而，西南航空公司的假日危机使其竞争对手黯然失色。
据航班追踪网站显示，截至周三下午，该公司已经取消了当天计划的2，500多个航班，占当天航班总数的62%FlightAware。
相比之下，截至周三下午，联合航空公司仅取消了当天计划的11个航班;而美国航空公司已经取消了23个航班。每个数字占各自公司总航班数的不到1%。
在接受采访时ABC新闻的拜伦·皮茨美国交通部长皮特·布蒂吉格周二将西南航空公司的航班取消潮描述为“令人震惊和不可接受的干扰水平”与此同时，参议员玛丽亚坎特威尔，华盛顿。参议院商业、科学和运输委员会主席，说西南航空公司的问题“不仅仅是天气”
据飞行专家、西南航空公司官员和工会领袖称，虽然暴风雪导致西南航空网络中进出主要机场的航班停飞，但历史上取消航班的规模源于该公司独特复杂的航班协调模式及其过时的内部调度系统。
更多:滞留的西南航空公司的客户详细描述了在航班取消的情况下他们回家的努力
“这是我们在这个国家从未见过的中断水平，”行业资深人士、美国航空公司前运营沟通总监罗斯·范斯坦告诉美国广播公司新闻。"这些数字令人震惊。"
在一个录像由西南航空公司在周二发布，首席执行官鲍勃·乔丹为延误道歉。
“我真的很抱歉，”乔丹说。“我们的网络非常复杂，航空公司的运营依赖于所有环节，尤其是飞机和机组人员仍在前往他们计划去的地方。”
“经过几天的努力，我们在繁忙的假期周末安排了尽可能多的时间，我们决定大幅减少飞行时间来赶上进度，”他补充说。
以下是导致西南航空公司崩溃的原因:
一个独特的航班调度模型
最近几天暴风雪袭击了美国大部分地区34人死亡在纽约西部，并迫使全国许多室内。
风暴还限制了航空旅行，包括西南航空公司，丹佛和芝加哥的主要机场受到恶劣条件的影响。
但西南航空公司特别严重的中断在很大程度上是由于该公司的航班调度方式，这种方式不同于大多数航空公司所依赖的典型的轴辐式模式，大气研究集团的旅游业分析师亨利·哈特维尔特通过电子邮件告诉美国广播公司新闻。
“例如，在像美国航空公司或联合航空公司这样的航空公司，一架飞机可能在一条相当窄的‘轨道’上运行，从其基地枢纽飞往各个城市，”Harteveldt说。"这有助于航空公司在恶劣天气来袭时“划分”其运营."
相反，西南航空公司使用点对点模式，在这种模式下，“飞机在穿越美国时可能会在一条路线上多次停留，”他补充道。“因此，当大范围恶劣天气系统来袭时，西南航空公司会受到其他航空公司不会受到的影响。”
西南航空公司首席执行官乔丹在周二的一份声明中承认该公司的非典型调度策略。
“西南航空是美国最大的航空公司，不仅因为我们的价值和价值观，还因为我们围绕社区而不是枢纽制定航班时刻表，”他说。
为了恢复正常运营，该公司表示，在接下来的两天里，它将运行大约三分之一的时间表，因为它将重新设置其复杂的行程安排和协调模式。FlightAware的数据显示，截至周三，西南航空已经取消了58%原定于周四的航班。
不堪重负的内部管理系统
公司官员、工会领导人和专家表示，除了复杂的航班分配模式，西南航空公司还存在用于管理和配备这些航班的过时内部系统。
“他们在跟踪机组人员和日程安排方面遇到了与IT相关的问题，”前美国航空公司的范斯坦说。"他们用什么来监控飞机位置，机组人员，空乘人员，以上所有的问题."
西南航空公司飞行员协会(south west Airlines Pilots Association)主席凯西·默里(Casey Murray)周二在一份声明中表示，用于内部监督人员配备和调度的技术至少在十年前就面临困难。
“我们都知道，当涉及到它的运营流程和it时，该公司一直把头埋在沙子里，”默里说。“我们没有人手不足。我们管理不足。”
根据获得的一份备忘录，西南航空公司首席执行官鲍勃·乔丹在给员工的一封信中肯定了这种担忧美国有线新闻网;卷积神经网络。
“我们正在遭受的一部分是缺乏工具，”乔丹说。"我们已经谈了很多关于操作现代化的问题，以及这样做的必要性。"
代表西南航空公司地勤人员的TWU本地555组织的主席兰迪·巴恩斯在一份声明中说，管理不善迫使地勤人员在这个假期里每天工作16至18个小时，使他们面临严寒、疾病甚至冻伤的危险。
巴恩斯说:“当你面对零度以下的气温、狂风和冰暴时，你不能指望每天都是气温适中、微风轻拂的晴天来安排飞机。”"该航空公司需要采取更多措施来保护其地勤人员。"
缺乏足够的员工已经延伸到该公司的呼叫中心，客户在寻求替代航班或报销时面临长时间的等待。
在接受美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)采访时，运输部长Buttigieg对西南航空公司持续存在的此类挑战表示遗憾，包括乘客“无法通过电话联系任何人来帮助他们”，以及该公司“无法完全了解自己的机组人员在哪里”。
展望未来会发生什么
前美国航空公司(American Airlines)的范斯坦表示，他预计航班取消将持续数周，因为最初的取消会产生“多米诺骨牌效应”，公司难以为延误的乘客重新预订，导致其他人无法找到航班。
“让乘客乘坐没有取消的航班、其他航空公司的航班、租车、公共汽车或火车到达最终目的地，已经成了一场噩梦，”他说。
然而，到目前为止，该公司周五的飞行前景似乎相对乐观。西南航空公司已经取消了当天计划的39个航班，占计划总数的不到1%。
尽管如此，周二，Buttigieg发誓运输部将调查大规模延误的原因。
专家说，混乱仍在继续，西南航空公司已经达到了前所未有的混乱程度。
“我不记得有哪家航空公司像西南航空公司一样存在如此广泛的问题，”行业分析师哈特维尔特说。
'Disruption we've never seen': What's causing the Southwest Airlines meltdown?
A massive storm has blanketed much of the U.S. with snow, slowing air travel during a peak season and causing tens of thousands of flight cancellations. The holiday meltdown at Southwest Airlines, however, has far eclipsed its competitors.
By Wednesday afternoon, the company had canceled more than 2,500 flights planned for the day, which amounted to 62% of the day's total, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
By contrast, as of Wednesday afternoon, United Airlines had canceled just 11 flights scheduled for the day; while American Airlines had canceled 23, FlightAware said. Each figure accounted for less than 1% of the respective company's total flights.
In an interview with ABC News' Byron Pitts, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday described the wave of flight cancellations at Southwest Airlines as a "shocking and unacceptable level of disruption." Meanwhile Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said the problems at Southwest Airlines "go beyond weather."
While the snowstorm grounded flights in and out of key airports in Southwest's network, the historic scale of cancellations stems from the company's uniquely complex flight coordination model and its antiquated internal scheduling systems, according to flight experts, Southwest Airlines officials and union leaders.
"This is a level of disruption we've never seen in this country before," Ross Feinstein, industry veteran and former director of operations communications at American Airlines, told ABC News. "The numbers are staggering."
In a video posted by Southwest Airlines on Tuesday, CEO Bob Jordan apologized for the delays.
"I'm truly sorry," Jordan said. "Our network is highly complex and the operation of the airline counts on all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews remaining in motion to where they're planned to go."
"After days of trying to operate as much of our full schedule across the busy holiday weekend, we reached a decision point to significantly reduce our flying to catch up," he added.
Here's what's causing the meltdown at Southwest Airlines:
A unique flight-scheduling model
A snowstorm battered much of the U.S. in recent days, leaving 34 dead in Western New York and forcing many indoors nationwide.
The storm also curtailed air travel, including at Southwest Airlines, which saw major airports in Denver and Chicago hammered by harsh conditions.
But the particularly severe disruption at Southwest Airlines is due in large part to the company's approach to flight scheduling, which departs from the typical hub-and-spoke model that most airlines rely on, Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, told ABC News via email.
"At an airline like American or United, for example, a plane may operate on a fairly narrow 'track,' traveling from its base hub to a variety of cities," Harteveldt said. "That helps the airline 'compartmentalize' its operation when bad weather hits."
Southwest Airlines, instead, uses a point-to-point model in which "aircraft may make multiple stops along a route as they ply their way across the country," he added. "So, when an extensive bad weather system hits, Southwest is affected in ways that other airlines are not."
Jordan, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, acknowledged the company's atypical scheduling strategy in a statement on Tuesday.
"Southwest is the largest carrier in the country, not only because of our value and our values, but because we build our flight schedule around communities, not hubs," he said.
In order to return to normal operations, the company said it would operate roughly one-third of its schedule over the next two days, as it resets its complex model of scheduling and coordinating trips. As of Wednesday, Southwest Airlines had canceled 58% of its flights scheduled for Thursday, FlightAware data showed.
An overwhelmed internal management system
In addition to its complicated model for assigning flights, Southwest Airlines also suffers from an antiquated internal system used for managing and staffing those trips, company officials, union leaders and experts said.
"They've had IT-related issues in terms of tracking their crews and scheduling," said Feinstein, formerly of American Airlines. "Issues with what they use to monitor aircraft locations, crew, flight attendants, all of the above."
Casey Murray, the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said in a statement on Tuesday that the technology used internally to oversee staffing and scheduling has faced difficulties stretching back at least a decade.
"We all know that the company has had its head buried in the sand when it comes to its operational processes and IT," Murray said. "We aren't undermanned. We're undermanaged."
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan affirmed such concerns in a message to employees, according to a memo obtained by CNN.
"Part of what we're suffering is a lack of tools," Jordan said. "We've talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation, and the need to do that."
The mismanagement has forced ground workers to complete 16- or 18- hour workdays over this holiday season, exposing them to bitter cold, sickness and even frostbite, Randy Barnes, president of TWU Local 555, which represents ground workers at Southwest Airlines, said in a statement.
"When you're dealing with sub-zero temperatures, driving winds and ice storms you can't expect to schedule planes as if every day is a sunny day with moderate temperatures and a gentle breeze," Barnes said. "The airline needs to do more to protect its ground crews."
The lack of adequate staffing has extended to the company's call centers, where customers face long wait times as they seek an alternative flight or a reimbursement.
In an interview with ABC News, Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary, lamented the persistence of such challenges at Southwest Airlines, including passengers "unable to get anybody on the phone to help them" and the company's "inability to fully keep track of where their own flight crews are."
What to expect looking ahead
Feinstein, formerly of American Airlines, said he expects the flight cancellations to endure for weeks, since the initial cancellations create a "domino effect" in which the company struggles to rebook delayed passengers, leaving others unable to find flights.
"It has become a nightmare getting passengers to their final destinations on flights that aren't canceled, other airlines, rental cars, buses or trains," he said.
So far, however, the outlook appears relatively positive for flight prospects at the company on Friday. Southwest Airlines has canceled 39 flights scheduled for that day, which makes up less than 1% of the total planned.
Still, on Tuesday, Buttigieg vowed that the Department of Transportation would investigate the causes of the large-scale delays.
With the chaos still ongoing, Southwest Airlines already has reached an unprecedented level of disruption, experts said.
"I don't recall seeing any other individual airline have such extensive problems as Southwest is having now," said Harteveldt, the industry analyst.
