Dozens of Southwest flights canceled at Las Vegas airport

Dozens of Southwest Airlines flights were canceled at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas Friday, with hundreds more canceled across the nation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stormy weather.

Airport spokeswoman Christine Crews said 34Southwest flights either into or out of Reid were canceled Friday morning. Nationwide, the Dallas-based airline canceled 525 flights on Friday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

”Track the status of your flight with your airline before coming to the airport,” Crews said. “You would rather deal with customer service by phone, over the internet or from your hotel room versus standing in line at the airport. Your airline will have the most up to date information.”

Overall, 58 flights at Reid were canceled on Friday, according to FlightAware.

Nationwide, the surge in the omicron variant and bad weather in parts of the country led to the cancellation of 2,670 U.S. flights, FlightAware reported. It was the 12th straight day of 1,000-plus cancellations.

Southwest also was one of the hardest hit airlines on Thursday, canceling about 650 flights, or 21 percent of its schedule by early evening. A spokesman said the airline was dealing with extreme cold at several airports and a high number of call-outs by employees who were either sick with COVID-19 or were isolating after close contact with someone with the virus.

Flight cancellations in the U.S. began rising on Christmas Eve and peaked Monday at more than 3,200 — about one in every eight flights.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.