More weekend travel headaches: Southwest cancels more than 500 flights, delays 2,500 more

Southwest has canceled more than 500 weekend flights and delayed more than 2,500 others, the continuation of a rough month for the nation's largest domestic carrier and its passengers. The operational woes come amid a spike in flight attendant sick calls, but the airline says bad weather across the country is to blame. Southwest canceled 287 Saturday flights, or 8% of its flights, as of 5:30 p.m. ET, after canceling 254 Friday flights, or 6% percent of its flights, according to flight tracker FlightAware. It had the most cancellations of any US carrier, in total and as a percentage of flights, each day. Tardy flights are a big issue, too: Southwest delayed nearly 1,600 Friday flights, or 43% of its flights, more than any US airline, and so far Saturday has delayed 960 flights, or 28% of its flights, according to FlightAware. The cancellations and delays come a week after Southwest canceled or delayed hundreds of flights due to two separate technology issues and a week after American Airlines struggled with operational woes during the busy Father's Day travel weekend and said it would proactively cancel nearly 1,000 July flights to give it more breathing room when weather and other issues crop up. <br/>