Southwest will resume normal operations Friday after canceling more than 10,000 flights over the past four days.
“We are encouraged by the progress we’ve made to realign crew, their schedules, and our fleet,” the airline said in a statement Thursday. “With another holiday weekend full of important connections for our valued customers and employees, we are eager to return to a state of normalcy.”
More than 2,300 Southwest flights remain canceled Thursday, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight status in real time. Many customers are still trying to track down luggage and rebook travel or get money back for ruined trips.
“We know even our deepest apologies – to our customers, to our employees, and to all affected through this disruption – only go so far,” Southwest said. “We have much work ahead of us, including investing in new solutions to manage wide-scale disruptions.”
Here’s what Southwest customers should know.
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What happens if Southwest cancels my flight?
Customers whose flights are canceled may rebook or request a refund for their flights on Southwest’s website.
Additionally, all Southwest customers who were scheduled to fly through Jan. 2 may rebook without paying additional charges or fly standby within 30 days of their original travel date between previously booked cities.
“You shouldn’t need to get on a call or stand in a line, and you can make a flight changes you need to at Southwest.com,” the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Green said in a video Wednesday.
Customers who opt to call 1-800-I-FLY-SWA should expect long wait times.
Is there any way to get refunds on Southwest?
Customers whose flights were canceled may fill out a form on Southwest’s website to request a refund if they choose not to rebook.The Department of Transportation requires all airlines to offer refunds when a flight is canceled for any reason. Rules about delays are more complicated and vary widely. The DOT’s dashboard for travelers lists policies by airline.
Can I be reimbursed for extra expenses?
Southwest customers who experience cancellations or a “significant flight delay” between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2 may submit receipts by email for reimbursement consideration.
“We will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation,” the airline said on its website.
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Where is my luggage?
Unclaimed bags belonging to Southwest customers who didn’t make it as far as their checked luggage have piled up at airports across the country.
The airline has created an online form travelers can fill out to help reunite with their bags. Luggage will be delivered free of charge.
Why is Southwest Airlines canceling flights?
Southwest said it was “fully staffed and prepared” heading into the holiday weekend, but severe weather forced operational changes from which it has struggled to recover.
“With our large fleet of airplanes and flight crews out of position in dozens of locations, and after days of trying to operate as much of our full schedule across the busy holiday weekend, we reached a decision point to significantly reduce our flying to catch up,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a video Tuesday, in which he also apologized.
After meeting with Southwest’s leadership, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN’s “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer” that “they indicated a number of issues that they’re having with systems, legacy systems for managing their schedule and where their crews are.”
“Due to the magnitude and scale of the disruptions, our technology could not align our resources,” Southwest Airlines told USA TODAY. “As a result, our crew schedulers are tackling the issue manually and that is a tedious, long process that takes time and trained resources to accomplish.”
Jordan noted that the airline’s tools work 99% of the time, “but clearly, we need to double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what’s happening right now.”
Randy Barnes, president of Transport Workers Union of America Local 555, which represents Southwest ground crews, cast additional blame. “If airline managers had planned better, the meltdown we’ve witnessed in recent days could have been lessened or averted,” Barnes said in a statement.
What is Southwest doing about cancellations?
Southwest is reaching out to travelers and asking other customers who aren’t scheduled to fly within the next 72 hours to delay calling to avoid tying up busy phone lines. The airline is also apologizing for “falling short,” saying “our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.”
“We always take care of our customers,” Southwest’s CEO said. “And we will lean in and go above and beyond as they would expect us to. Teams are working on all of that: processing refunds, proactively reaching out and taking care of customers who are dealing with costly detours and reroutes, as just a few examples.”
Some lawmakers want more. In a joint statement, Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called for “not only rebooked tickets, ticket refunds, and hotel, meal, and transportation reimbursement, but significant monetary compensation for the disruption to their holiday plans.”
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What is the government doing about Southwest’s ‘meltdown’?
The Department of Transportation and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation are looking into the cancellations, and President Joe Biden said his administration would hold airlines accountable.
“What we did, especially over the course of the problems we saw this year, was press the airlines to increase their customer service commitments. They did that. They did that in writing, and now that we have that in hand, we are able to hold them accountable to a higher standard than what was possible last year,” Buttigieg told “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.”
He added, “This has clearly crossed the line from what’s an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the airline’s direct responsibility.”
Contributing: Rebecca Morin and Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY