Southwest Flight 238 (2024)

FAQs

What happened to Southwest Airlines flight 1248? ›

On December 8, 2005, Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 overran the runway during landing at Chicago Midway International Airport. The airplane rolled through a blast fence, an airport perimeter fence, and onto an adjacent roadway where it collided with an automobile before coming to a stop.

All of the aircraft Southwest Airlines operates are from the Boeing 737 family of narrow-body airliners.

Click on My Account then visit the Trips tab. You'll see your past flight(s) and can get the purchase details for your flight by clicking on the trip name. Simply print this page as your receipt.

A six-year-old child, Joshua Woods, of Leroy, Ind., was killed, and the four others were injured. According to an account in the Chicago Tribune, the boys father, Leroy, had intended to take a different route, down Cicero, but traffic was slowed by the snow, so he decided to drive down Central Avenue instead.

Activist shareholder Elliott Investment Management has bought a $1.9 billion stake in Southwest Airlines and is seeking to force out the CEO of the airline, which has struggled with operational and financial problems.

Today, Southwest is one of the world's largest airlines with a fleet comprising a whopping 816 aircraft, all of which are variants of the Boeing 737. The fleet is 11.7 years old on average. Let's take a closer look at the fleet and identify the newest and oldest aircraft in service.

An important thing to remember when considering an upgrade with Southwest is that the airline doesn't offer a genuine business or first class ticket like other airlines. With an upgrade you will get added perks, but you won't get a more comfortable seat.

Southwest points' value varies from 1.3 cents to 1.5 cents. In most cases, you get better value when redeeming your points for short flights and affordable fares instead of longer or more expensive ones.

Know your Southwest boarding position

The standard boarding groups are either: A, B, or C. With that, there are typically positions 1-60. Your boarding group is printed on your boarding pass. Group A boards first, then group B, and afterwards group C.

Airlines typically retain boarding pass information for a limited time. If you need a boarding pass for a past flight, you can try contacting the airline directly to request a copy. They may be able to provide you with a travel certificate or other documentation that can serve as proof of travel.

Who was the pilot of the Southwest 1248? ›

The captain was 59-year-old Bruce Sutherland, who had been a U.S. Air Force pilot from 1969 to 1995. He joined Southwest Airlines in August 1995 and had 15,000 flight hours, including 4,500 hours on the Boeing 737.

As many as 16,900 flights were canceled in what some were calling the biggest meltdown in modern airline history. The cancellations were initially blamed on adverse weather but were later attributed, in part, to issues with the company's computer technology.

While a massive winter storm caused the initial cancellations, the company's outdated software systems turned what should have been a normal problem into a snowballing disaster that lasted for days after other airlines had resumed their usual operations.

"In hindsight, we did not have enough winter operational resilience." The largest domestic airline in the U.S., Southwest canceled more than 16,000 flights over an 11-day period at the end of December due to a combination of severe winter weather, staffing shortages and technology issues, the company said.