ORLANDO, Fla. — Southwest Airlines had canceled more than 400 flights before noon Wednesday in the wake of a winter storm threat and what it called "higher-than-normal out-of-service aircraft."
- More than 400 Southwest flights canceled since Tuesday night
- More than 350 of those were canceled because of winter weather
- Rest canceled because some aircraft remain out of service
Because of anticipated bad weather, more than 350 flights were proactively canceled across the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and the Northeast.
Warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico is combining with a cold system from the Rockies, producing the wintry mix, our Weather Experts say.
Southwest urged travelers to those areas to check its "evolving" traveler accommodation policies on its website.
Exacerbating the flight disruptions was a shortage of in-service aircraft, which the company suggested was engineered by a union representing mechanics, the Associated Press reported.
The union said Southwest is "scapegoating" mechanics.
"The airline continues to operate under a staffing protocol enacted late last week to maximize availability of mechanics across all scheduled shifts to address maintenance items so that we may safely return aircraft to service," a Southwest spokeswoman said.
Southwest has about 750 airplanes, and the more than 400 canceled flights represents about 10 percent of its flight schedule, according to the AP.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.