Southwest Rapid Rewards - MDW - Lights Out

FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center
ATCSCC ADVZY 006 DCC 06/29/2012 MDW AIRPORT_FYI
MESSAGE: MDW AIRPORT IS CLOSED DUE TO ALL AIRPORT LIGHTING OUT OF SERVICE. BACKUP POWER ALSO FAILED. UPDATE AT 0400Z.

EFFECTIVE TIME: 290214 - 290400
SIGNATURE: 12/06/29 02:16

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So the lights quit at 815pm local time (2+ hours ago). The FAA, for their many weaknesses, posted it immediately and NOTAM’d the field closed:

http://www.fly.faa.gov/ois/

MDW tower is currently the #2 busiest feed (normally not even in the top 50). Sounded a lot like the monkey and the proverbial football, although starting to calm-down now with lotsa “we need an escort back to the gate and are going to cancel for the night”:

http://www.liveatc.net/flisten.php?mount=kmdw4&icao=kmdw

I wonder how many diversions went to other stations…. Friday morning startup certainly can’t be pretty.

Southwest Airlines, on the other hand, is silent. They’ve posted nothing on their web site, nothing on Facebook, and nothing on Twitter (other than the nonsense re: their silly TV “show”).

Gary Kelley could at least make an effort to HIRE someone that can get a clue, since they obviously don’t teach such handy talents at CPA school.

I have relatives at MDW who were on the tarmac for 2 hours waiting for a resolution before taxiing back to the gate. I suspect it's chaos - and all the flights to Baltimore tomorrow are showing sold out.

I wonder how many diversions went to other stations…

Pretty much all of them after the outage took place. :(

The evening started with a scattered line of weather that started up around ORD (staying off MDW) but then they moved SE and impacted MDW. It didn't last long at the airport proper, but once past MDW to the SE, the cells blossomed into a broken line that had cells topping 64,000 feet at one point. This weather blocked the normal arrival routes from the E and SE, as well as departures.

The strangely ironic thing is that the power at MDW didn't fail as the storms rolled over MDW, but well after they were off to the SE. Originally, it failed, came back after a few minutes, was intermittent for a few minutes (not a good thing), and then failed completely (even a worse thing.) I didn't have any flights in/or out, but the dispatcher next to me had several, and diverted them to various alternates.

I see this morning from the FAA's ATCSCC page that MDW didn't get things working again about 0600Z (1am central time). Not a pretty night for anyone concerned.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-midway-closed-due-to-runway-lighting-problems-20120628,0,4727198.story

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5500640/#10

I wonder how many diversions went to other stations…. Friday morning startup certainly can’t be pretty.


Flightstats arrivals for Southwest at MDW that evening showed 22 diversions and 5 cancellations in the 6PM-midnight band.

One example: flight 1369 MCI-MDW diverted to STL: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA1369/history/20120629/0110Z/KMCI/KSTL

Can't they divert flights into ORD even though they don't have gates there if there is a power outage at MDW? When the midwest had the huge power grid outage and DTW was closed, I know WN diverted at least one flight into TOL and provided shuttle service to DTW and didn't have any gates at TOL.

Gary Kelley could at least make an effort to HIRE someone that can get a clue, since they obviously don’t teach such handy talents at CPA school.

This wouldn't be an accounting department issue. I would think this would fall under the issues of operations or marketing.

A friend was booked MDW-PDX last night scheduled for a 7:35 pm departure. They didn't cancel the flight until about 11 pm. The lines at the counters, she said, were impossible. I called WN to see if I could get her out today. There was space when I called - got put on hold for 30 minutes. By the time they answered, everything today was booked. She won't get out until Saturday morning. They refused to protect her on any other airline. And of course, would not pay for hotel, since it wasn't their fault.

She is back at the airport this morning trying to recover her checked bag. She said it is a total zoo.

This wouldn't be an accounting department issue. I would think this would fall under the issues of operations or marketing.

Your sarcasm meter is way out of tune.

Your sarcasm meter is way out of tune.

Sorry. It's the CPA side of me coming out:)

They refused to protect her on any other airline. And of course, would not pay for hotel, since it wasn't their fault.


Hopefully your friend didn't have to be in PDX for something like a medical procedure or wedding.

Hopefully on the fly was taping last night. That could make for some interesting video.

I wish WN would handle IROPS differently. I guess since they don't interline though it is hard to.

Just before noon Friday, 20 miles S of MDW, the sky is black and rain has started again.

Just before noon Friday, 20 miles S of MDW, the sky is black and rain has started again.

Both ORD and MDW have thunderstorms right now, but everything is forecasted to be out of the area by 2 pm. The whole area is underneath a stalled front that runs KC-MDW-NYC, so more storms are likely to form later on, but mainly east of MDW.

http://aviationweather.gov/products/ccfp/

Worst experience ever with SWA -- Lights out was not their fault -- OK. Told people they would have luggage off planes in 2 - 4 hours --- I waited from 11:30 PM till 4:30 AM and then was told there would be no more luggage pulled -- hundreds of people waiting for luggage and they probably pulled 50 bags!!!! Total lack of communications.

Long story short -- my bag went to San Diego -- I am not going to SD because it was for a business meeting on Friday and they could not get me there till Saturday (in fairness they were very good in refunding my ticket price). They say they will send it back to Chicago-- we will see. They also say I have to go to Midway to get the bag (basically 2 hours each way).

We love to fly and it shows?? It didn't at the baggage area at Midway in the wee hours of the morning!!!

Welcome to Flyertalk Prof!

Nasty cell due in around 22:05 CST. Slight chance it will slide off to the south.

Worst experience ever with SWA -- Lights out was not their fault -- OK. Told people they would have luggage off planes in 2 - 4 hours --- I waited from 11:30 PM till 4:30 AM and then was told there would be no more luggage pulled -- hundreds of people waiting for luggage and they probably pulled 50 bags!!!! Total lack of communications.

Long story short -- my bag went to San Diego -- I am not going to SD because it was for a business meeting on Friday and they could not get me there till Saturday (in fairness they were very good in refunding my ticket price). They say they will send it back to Chicago-- we will see. They also say I have to go to Midway to get the bag (basically 2 hours each way).

We love to fly and it shows?? It didn't at the baggage area at Midway in the wee hours of the morning!!!

I used to fly into MDW all the time (always on WN). I ALWAYS had bad experience with checked luggage there. I once had a WN employee tell me that the reason things were so slow there was because when weather got really bad, employees would just call out. Not sure if there is any truth in that - but even on a good day I've waited over an hour for bags.

Sorry for your bad experience. I hope everything works out!

Follow-up to my saga -- Could not get Chicago baggage desk on the phone -- didn't answer - didn't return calls. E-mailed customer service and asked them to call baggage for me. They did -- good customer service department - and finally at 1 PM on Monday Chicago baggage called me about my bag -- if I want it brought to me it is $73 (bags fly free but by ground its $73) -- they would only hold the bag until Tuesday (who knows where it would have gone then) and I teach on Tuesday.

So in the car at 1:30 to Midway and back -- 4 hours round trip - I was so happy to get my bag I just grabbed it and left. When I got home my wife noticed it had been badly damaged.

I have flown SW for years and have liked their customer service -- even had baggage issues in Orange County and Orlando which were resolved cheerfully and expediously. But the Chicago Baggage area is undoubtly the worst SWA has to offer -- its almost like they are doing you a favor to get you your bag.

We love to fly and it shows??

That's a Delta slogan. Maybe you were thinking "We dropped our fly and it shows." No, that's not it either. :eek:

I recommend a letter to Customer Relations with a photo of the damage. Wait up to 8 weeks for a response.