It has been a year since more than 16,000 flights were canceled during Southwest Airlines' operational meltdown. A winter storm snowballed into days of cancellations, impacting two million customers. The airline said it has worked to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
NBC 5 Responds checks in with passengers and has holiday travel tips to know this week.
“IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN”
Last Christmas, Leroy Armstrong of McKinney scrambled to get home, “We thought we were coming home the day after Christmas.”
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Armstrong said Southwest Airlines canceled his return flight from Savannah, Georgia, then canceled the rebooked flight for the next day.
“We stood in lines for a couple of hours trying to get to somebody at the counter and see if we could reroute. I just told my wife it's not going to happen. We're not getting out here on Southwest,” Armstrong recalled.
He found one-way tickets on another airline, paying another thousand dollars to fly back to Dallas.
Since that trip, Armstrong said Southwest reimbursed him for those tickets and the unused travel with Southwest and credited another 25,000 reward points as a goodwill gesture.
“It doesn't replace the time loss and the frustration, but they did take care of business by reimbursing us for the money we were out of pocket,” said Armstrong.
Reporter Diana Zoga asked, “With that in mind, would you fly Southwest again?”
“Unfortunately, Southwest is still my airline of choice,” Armstrong laughed. “I flew enough this year to be A list.”
We checked back with two more of the two million Southwest customers impacted last year. Maria Adams of Wylie had to find a last-minute flight on another airline for her 9-year-old. He was flying on his own after visiting his dad for Christmas.
“He has to come home and I don't think they understood that, nor did they try to make it right by emailing us or calling us. Nothing,” Adams said.
They tell us they were frustrated with the lack of communication during the meltdown.
“Trying to call in, feeling very helpless and hopeless and trying to make things happen when I knew thousands and thousands of people were trying to as well,” said another customer named Erin Whelan.
AIRLINE: ADDITIONAL STEPS TAKEN
Southwest Airlines said it has taken steps to avoid a repeat event – including boosting deicing capabilities at key cold weather airports. It wrote, in part, “We’ve purchased more engine inlet plugs, deicing trucks and high-powered heaters, along with securing additional space for deicing operations. To support those efforts, we’ve hired thousands of Employees in 2023 and trained more staff than ever before to deice aircraft.”
The airline also said it enhanced scheduling systems for flights and crews, writing, in part, “We’ve enhanced Network health dashboards, Flight Crew support software and communication between the groups planning our flight schedule and the groups executing our flight schedule.”
Southwest said it honors reasonable requests to reimburse out-of-pocket expenses for impacted travelers. Customers can submit a request here. Select either the "complaint," "comment/question," or "compliment" button. Then, scroll down to "travel disruption." This will take you to the expense reimbursement request form.
For passengers who experienced a cancellation or significant delay between December 24 and January 2 of 2022, the airline said it decided to consider all disruptions within that time period “within the airline’s control.” Generally, the airline said it honors reasonable requests to reimburse out-of-pocket expenses for disrupted travel within the airline's control.
TRAVELER TIPS
“They've patched up the biggest problems that they had. No one really expects a big problem coming up this year. However, you never know,” said Charlie Leocha, president of consumer group Travelers United.
Whatever airline you pick, passengers can do a few things to prepare. That includes downloading the airline’s app. It can help streamline rebooking if there’s a disruption.
“Even when you stand in line, you can still be working the phone,” said Leocha.
You can research backup flights ahead of time.
Leocha said you should keep your phone charger in your carry-on when you travel. A small power strip may also come in handy if you’re stuck at an airport.
“I could plug it into the wall and then six other people could all plug into it,” said Leocha.
Then there’s this tip from frequent flyer Armstrong, “If you're going to travel during the holidays where you know there's so many more people trying to fly, just be ready to be flexible.”
If an airline cancels your flight and you don’t rebook with them, Department of Transportation rules say an airline must refund you for the unused travel – including fees for things like checked baggage. Airlines aren’t required to put you up in a hotel if you’re stranded overnight, but some will.
You can find an outline of your rights when you fly from the DOT here.
The DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection website lists answers to frequently asked questions here.
Consumers can file a complaint with the DOT here. The agency will share the complaint with the airline, which would be required to respond to the consumer.
