On Tuesday morning, the Portland Jetport was one of many airports throughout the country dealing with Southwest Airlines flight cancellations. A Jetport official reported that 12 flights—all Southwest flights from Portland to Baltimore—were canceled between Monday and Wednesday.
The Portland Jetport is the biggest airport in Maine, with passengers driving from all around northern New England to catch flights, despite the fact that it doesn’t see as many planes or bags as other airports across the nation.
At Boston Airport Cab we get about 25 rides from Boston Airport to Portland, Maine in a calendar month. We also pick up and drop off customers from Lewiston, Bangor, South Portland, Auburn, Sanford, etc on a regular basis.
“In this bad weather and snow storms, flights getting canceled mean bookings getting canceled for American taxi drivers. The rise of Covid cases is another big headache to deal with. We see about 30-40% cancellation in Taxi reservations every day.” said Abdul Kader founder of Boston Airport Cab.
No other flights at the Portland Jetport on Tuesday were canceled, despite repeated claims from Southwest Airlines that their cancellations were caused by bad weather. 2,500 of the 2,800 flights canceled on Tuesday morning, according to Flight Aware, were operated by Southwest.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Tuesday that it will look into the matter regarding Southwest Airlines.
We also spoke to Rooturaj Pattanaik, founder of Limo Trust, and confirmed this was indeed the case with a majority of the professional Limo and Car service providers in the USA.
He said, “Especially those in the northern and Northeastern states are badly affected. Limo business in New York is completely out.”
The consequences of missing a flight are true for travelers like Colleen Murray, whose mother drove her three hours from northern New Hampshire, even if the cause of the cancellations is yet unknown. She deliberately scheduled her flight for Tuesday to avoid the busy travel day.
Most of the taxi cab reservations from Boston to New York are also canceled as New York reels under the massive snow storms.
Because Southwest personnel informed her that no flights would begin until January 2, 2023, she ultimately had to rebook her travel on a different airline.
Image Credits- Southwest Airlines
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