Michael Mothershed, a 28-year Pac-12 Conference football referee, missed the final game of his career when his flight was canceled on Christmas weekend due to inclement weather.
According to OutKick, Mothershed was set to referee the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, Michigan, his last game before retirement, on Monday. The veteran referee missed the game, however, after his flight to the Great Lakes State was among the thousands canceled or delayed on Monday due to severe winter weather.
More than 4,000 U.S. flights were canceled on Monday, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware, and more than 21,000 were delayed.
Southwest Airlines canceled more than 70%, or 3,000, of its scheduled flights on Monday, prompting criticism from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service,” a department spokesperson said in a statement on Twitter. “The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.
FlightAware data revealed United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways canceled 5% to 9% of their departing flights on Monday, while American Airlines did not cancel any.
On Tuesday, Southwest canceled more than 60% of flights and delayed another 13%.
A historic winter storm that swept across most of the United States over the weekend was to blame for the travel chaos. Buffalo and the surrounding parts of western New York were especially hard hit, with 28 deaths in Erie County blamed on the storm. County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a Monday statement that 14 people were found outside in the frigid temperatures.
State and military police were deployed to the Buffalo area on Tuesday to enforce a driving ban New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued in Erie County four days ago in expectation of the deadly weather event.
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