Southwest Airlines resumes normal operations at Midway after running out of deicer Sunday

Diane Pathieu Image
Monday, February 12, 2018
Southwest back to normal after running out of deicer at Midway
Southwest Airlines resumed normal operations at Midway after they ran short of deice fluid Sunday.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Southwest Airlines resumed normal operations at Midway Airport Monday after running out of deicing fluid over the weekend, leading to hundreds of cancelled flights.

Southwest Airlines confirmed Monday morning that they received a delivery of deicer and expect to get things back to normal.

Southwest Airlines cancelled over 200 flights at Midway after running out of de-icing fluid Sunday. Customers were left stranded not knowing what was going on and when they would be able to get back on a flight, they were very frustrated.

"How do you run out of something when it's been snowing for the whole week and all the other airlines have deicer fluid so, I just didn't get it," said passenger Tanisha Bazemore.

Some passengers like Cole Miller had to sleep on the floor all night.

"We saw the huge lines and we found out that all the flights got cancelled. We had no money to go to a hotel or get any food so we've been stuck here since yesterday," Miller said.

It is the very first flight Miller has ever been on in his life. He came into Chicago to see his brother graduate from the Navy. He said it is going to be the last flight he is ever going to take.

Customers also complained about long wait times to reach customer service. Southwest had 16 deicing trucks.

Southwest Airlines said in a statement, "A more positive weather forecast for Chicago position us to safely operate our more than 250 departures out of Chicago Midway."