Southwest Airlines, reeling from public and federal scrutiny after canceling nearly 3,000 flights -- about 70% of its scheduled trips -- Monday and two-thirds of its scheduled flights Tuesday, has a message for passengers infuriated by the national holiday travel nightmare.
You'll get where you need to go, but it might not be until 2023.
Lines at LaGuardia snaked throughout Terminal B Monday, but it sat virtually empty on Tuesday as hundreds of pieces of luggage piled unclaimed in the baggage area. Of all canceled flights at the airport on Tuesday, 85 percent were from Southwest, which grounded more than 2,600 flights. Check-in counters looked like ghost towns because no one was flying.
It wasn't for lack of demand.
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The airline said severe weather and staffing limitations caused major operational issues that resulted in thousands of cancellations and delays. It acknowledged it had to make drastic changes to its flight plans because of the severe weather gripping America, especially parts of upstate New York, and those changes created gaps for flight crews.
In a statement, Southwest apologized for the ripple effect on passengers, many of whom remained stranded at airports across the U.S. on Tuesday. But relief won't come yet. The airline said it plans to operate only a third of scheduled flights over the coming days as it works to replenish crews.
"As we continue the work to recover our operation, we have made the decision to continue operating a reduced schedule by flying roughly one third of our schedule for the next several days," a statement read. "And we're working to reach Customers whose travel plans will change to offer specific information and available options."
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One couple from Chicago stranded at LaGuardia Tuesday said the least the airline could do is communicate better about cancellations and flight changes -- and make itself more available to aggrieved customers.
"You cannot call the 1-800 number, so I can't physically talk to anybody," said traveler Christine Whitney.
The federal government called out the airline, calling its handling of the crisis "unacceptable" and saying the airline "failed in properly supporting travelers who suffered cancellations and delays."
The U.S. Department of Transportation also said it was evaluating Southwest's performance and whether it was in compliance with its own customer service protocol, as well as federal rules around air travel.
Customers of the airline appeared to endure far worse repercussions than those who used other airlines over the last few days. Southwest accounted for more than 72% of the 3,900 U.S. flights that Flight Aware stats indicated were canceled Monday. Delta had about 300 canceled flights, while United Airlines had less than half that, data shows.
American, United, Delta and JetBlue, suffered cancellations rates of between none and 2% by Tuesday.
The ripple effect of accumulating canceled flights is expected to last days for Southwest flyers.
A message posted on the airline's website Tuesday read, "Due to adverse weather events and their resulting effects, we are currently experiencing operational disruptions and are working diligently and safely to restore normal flight schedules as quickly as possible."
It continued: "All Customers traveling through January 2, 2023 are able to rebook in the original class of service or travel standby (within 14 days of your original date of travel between the original city-pairs and in accordance with our accommodation procedures) without paying additional charges; please know available inventory is limited during the holidays."
The airline also posted on a form on its website where customers can request a refund and reimbursement for extra hotel room, rental car, and food charges. It was not immediately clear how long it would take for travelers to receive their refunds, however.
Southwest's CEO acknowledged the unprecedented mess in a Monday night interview with The Wall Street Journal.
"We had a tough day today. In all likelihood, we’ll have another tough day tomorrow as we work our way out of this," Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said. "This is the largest scale event that I’ve ever seen."
On Tuesday, Jordan released a video statement in which he said he was "truly sorry" to those travelers who were impacted by the airline's struggles, adding that the reduced schedule will help them reposition their staff and planes for the days ahead, hoping flights will be back on track before the new year.
However, a flight attendants union said part of the cause for the delays is that Southwest uses out-of-date technology to schedule crews. Meanwhile, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the airline's meltdown unacceptable.
"They told me in their words they will go above and beyond their written customer service plan," Buttigieg said, adding that Southwest should be responsible for giving stranded travelers cash refunds for canceled flights, plus meal and hotel compensation. "I'm going to be holding them accountable for doing that."
