In the midst of a chaotic week of flight cancellations and delays following severe winter weather around the country, social media posts claimed a major airline was stopping all flights through the end of the year.
"Southwest Airlines has decided they are cancelling (sic) all of their flights until January 1, 2023. You can't fly anywhere starting tonight," reads the start of a Dec. 27 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) that was shared more than 50 times in three days.
Another version of the post was shared more than 100 times before it was deleted.
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USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the claim for comment. One user said an airport employee told them all flights were canceled until Jan. 1, but a Southwest Airlines spokesperson told USA TODAY that's inaccurate.
Thousands of flights have been canceled and the airline is operating on a reduced schedule, but there are still flights set to take off before January 2023.
The claim that all flights are canceled until January is “inaccurate,” according to Southwest Airlines spokesperson Alyssa Foster.
“We plan to operate a reduced schedule by flying roughly one-third of our schedule for the next several days,” Foster told USA TODAY on Dec. 28.
A USA TODAY review of Southwest's schedule...
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