美国国家公共电台 NPR--Southwest Airlines cancels thousands of flights as operational meltdown cascades

Southwest Airlines cancels thousands of flights as operational meltdown cascades²

Transcript³

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with aviation reporter Kyle Arnold of The Dallas Morning News about the impact from thousands of flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Hundreds of thousands of passengers all over the country have seen their flights on Southwest delayed or canceled. And the airline is still canceling flights right at the peak of the busy holiday season.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Tuesday night, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan issued a video pleading with frustrated⁴ travelers and frustrated Southwest employees for patience.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BOB JORDAN: We're doing everything we can to return to a normal operation. And please also hear that I'm truly sorry.

FADEL: Kyle Arnold covers aviation for the Dallas Morning News. And he's been following this story. Good morning, Kyle.

KYLE ARNOLD: Thanks for having me.

FADEL: So Kyle, how many flights has Southwest canceled at this point?

ARNOLD: Up to this point, it's been more than 13,000. And now it's looking about 2,500 a day, you know, indefinitely, until they can get this figured out.

FADEL: So what is happening? What is Southwest saying caused all this?

ARNOLD: Well, there was a weather issue late last week, if you remember, that really swept through some of the big, key airports in Chicago and Denver. But we've seen this at airports - or with airlines, you know, over the last year and a half is that when they have these events, they kind of have this crew meltdown where they can't get their planes and pilots and flight attendants in the right places. And when the meltdowns are big enough, they escalate⁵. And they cascade¹. And they get bigger and bigger over the next few days until the airlines finally have enough slack that they can kind of reset⁶ and get everybody back in the right place.

FADEL: But we aren't seeing anywhere near this number of cancellations at other airlines who are also affected⁷ by that weather issue. So what's different about Southwest?

ARNOLD: Well, Southwest has blamed, for one, the position of those. The two big hubs that they hit are really important airports. But second, there's a big technology gap that Southwest has blamed. They just - when these things happen, they - the systems melt down. It's like a puzzle. That's what Bob Jordan said. And it's like a puzzle that they're doing blind because they don't know where a lot of people are at this point, flight attendants and pilots. They're calling people. They're showing up at airports and calling out names and taking roll of who is where because the system is so out of date.

FADEL: Now, the Department of Transportation tweeted that it will look into what it called Southwest's unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and reports of lack of prompt customer service. But what can the DOT actually do?

JORDAN: Well, they can force Southwest Airlines to give refunds⁸ on a lot of these flights. And there's always some contention⁹ here whether these were weather-related. I think it's pretty clear that, after the first day or two, it wasn't weather-related. But the industry is very wary¹⁰ of additional regulation. And that's what the Biden administration has brought and has threatened over the last year or so since coming out of the pandemic. Those regulations add costs to customers and the airlines and lower the profit margins¹¹.

FADEL: Now, what's the airline saying about how it intends to make things right for the hundreds of thousands of passengers affected?

ARNOLD: It's really hard to make everything right at this point. A lot of people have had their holidays ruined, their vacations upended. They've promised to reimburse¹² reasonable expenses for rental¹³ cars, for getting flights on other airlines, for hotels and things like that. But when you've lost, you know, a very important holiday season like this, you just can't get it back.

FADEL: Yeah, you can't really get back memories that you missed, huh? Kyle Arnold of the Dallas Morning News, thank you so much for all your time.

ARNOLD: Thank you.

1 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

2 cascades   

倾泻( cascade的名词复数 )； 小瀑布（尤指一连串瀑布中的一支）； 瀑布状物； 倾泻（或涌出）的东西

参考例句：

• The river fell in a series of cascades down towards the lake. 河形成阶梯状瀑布泻入湖中。
• Turning into the sun, he began the long, winding drive through the Cascades. 现在他朝着太阳驶去，开始了穿越喀斯喀特山脉的漫长而曲折的路程。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

6 reset   

v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物

参考例句：

• As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地，就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
• He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术，正在恢复。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 refunds   

n.归还，偿还额，退款( refund的名词复数 )v.归还，退还( refund的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Tomorrow he would return them to the store and claim refunds. 明天他要把它们退还给商店并要求退款。 来自辞典例句
• The new method means that taxpayers get refunds much faster. 这种新办法意味着纳税人可以较快地领到退还款。 来自辞典例句

9 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

10 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

11 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

12 reimburse   

v.补偿，付还

参考例句：

• We'll reimburse you for your travelling expenses.我们将付还你旅费。
• The funds are supposed to reimburse policyholders in the event of insurer failure.这项基金将在保险公司不能偿付的情况下对投保人进行赔付。

13 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。