Much of the country is still reeling from a nearly weeklong winter storm, leaving airline staffs stretched to the max and flight troubles still impacting thousands of travelers the day after Christmas.
As of Monday evening, flight tracking site FlightAware is reporting 60% of flights across the country from Southwest Airlines have been canceled. We have reached out to Southwest Airlines for comment.
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Frustration and chaos mounted at Dallas Love Field on Monday morning, where many people coming to the airport for early Southwest Airlines flights were soon told their flight was canceled. This led to very long lines throughout the airport terminal, with wait times to speak to someone at the Southwest ticket counter upwards of two hours long.
"I got a text saying that my flight was cancelled. They sent me a rebook link, I go to the link and it says nothing is available until the 30th," said BK Obi, a student athlete trying to fly back to his university in Phoenix. "I'm like, that can't be right. They had me hold on the phone -- I come into [the airport] to see if I can speak to someone and told me to wait in a line that's wrapped around the airport. Now I'm panicking."
SWA is currently leading the nation in cancellations, with nearly 1,000 reported around 10 a.m. Monday on FlightAware, a flight tracking website. That number quickly grew to more than 50 percent of the carrier's flights becoming cancelled.
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Tami Watson waited for over two hours in the Southwest customer service line with her son Zac, another student athlete trying to make it back to his school in time for basketball practice.
"We went ahead and booked another flight with American Airlines for Tuesday as a plan B or plan C," said Zac.
"The system is so fragile. It's just really difficult to make up for this," said Tami. "And there's just no options. It's rough to try and travel during the holidays."
Southwest had been canceling many flights proactively in an effort to stabilize its operation, COO Andrew Watterson said. From Wednesday through Saturday, about a quarter of Southwest's flights were canceled, and two-thirds were delayed, according to FlightAware data.
Southwest customer Cinnamon Bell arrived in Dallas on the 23rd. A day after Christmas her luggage was still nowhere to be found. She joined countless others in the baggage claim area of Love Field wandering, scanning, and hoping they'd spot their belongings in a sea of bag and suitcases.
"Where do I start? this is unbelievable," she said. " I had to go shopping for more clothes. This is unbelievable."
The airline apologized to employees for the chaos, which left many struggling to get a hold of crew scheduling services, making it harder to get reassignments or make other changes, or get hotel rooms. Southwest also offered flight attendants working over the holiday extra pay.
"Part of what we're suffering is a lack of tools," Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a message to staff on Sunday. "We've talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation, and the need to do that. And Crew Scheduling is one of the places that we need to invest in. We need to be able to produce solutions faster."
SOUTWEST AIRLINES RELEASES STATEMENT
Southwest Air released a statement Monday afternoon saying:
"With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our Customers and Employees in a significant way that is unacceptable.
And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.
We’re working with Safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning Crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us.
We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity.
This safety-first work is intentional, ongoing, and necessary to return to normal reliability, one that minimizes last-minute inconveniences. We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period. And we’re working to reach to Customers whose travel plans will change with specific information and their available options.
Our Employees and Crews scheduled to work this holiday season are showing up in every single way. We are beyond grateful for that. Our shared goal is to take care of every single Customer with the Hospitality and Heart for which we’re known.
On the other side of this, we’ll work to make things right for those we’ve let down, including our Employees.
With no concern higher than ultimate Safety, the People of Southwest share a goal to take care of each and every Customer. We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize."
ALL AIRLINES DEALING WITH CANCELLATIONS AND DELAYS
Delta, Spirit, United and Alaska Airlines are also dealing with flight cancellations and delays.
A powerful winter storm has wreaked havoc on the airlines, which were already stretched thin due to a surge in holiday travelers for the Christmas weekend. The storm swept across the entire nation, bringing ice storms to the Pacific Northwest, blizzard conditions to the Rockies, dangerous cold and strong winds to the South and more snow to the Midwest and Northeast.
United States-based airlines were forced to cancel some 12,000 flights between Wednesday and Saturday, with up to 3,000 more canceled on Christmas Day.
Even if travelers weren't heading to directly affected cities, the winter storm threw a wrench in the entire system. Some passengers told NBC 5 they were told their flights were not staffed enough to take off, leading to the cancellations.
SWA responded Monday afternoon to NBC 5 about the high number of cancellations stating:
"We are still unwinding and working to stabilize the operation after Winter Storm’s Elliot’s effects on our network. We have experienced problems connecting our flight crews to their scheduled aircraft. Not a staffing issue, but a scheduling issue."
MANY TRAVELERS REPORT LUGGAGE ISSUES
Some travelers have also reported an issue with lost bags among airlines, including American Airlines. Wait times to call a customer service agent have reportedly lasted as long as five hours.
"We came here to enjoy the holidays with our family, and this whole time we've been checking on a bag," said AA passenger Dexter Lowrey.
An American Airlines spokeswoman said the "vast majority of our customers affected by cancellations were able to be accommodated."
Lowery says he's going on day four with no clear answers. "And they have told me four different things every time I come. So somehow now my car seat is in Denver, Colorado," he said. "
Meanwhile, at DFW Airport, we found bags that showed up in the system for American Airlines. Most of them date back to last week. Passengers have six days to pick them up before they're moved to AA headquarters.
"How do you not have a better system of having bags go where they need to go," asked Lowery.
At Houston's Hobby Airport passenger luggage is piling up.
Luggage Piles Up at U.S. Airports
Travel experts say reaching out to airlines via Twitter direct message might be one way to more easily get in touch with someone to help you change your flight.
