Southwest Airlines cancels thousands more flights as federal government says it will investigate
Southwest Airlines scrubbed thousands of flights again Wednesday as the company faces frustration from passengers and scrutiny from federal officials over the handling of its schedule in the aftermath of a massive storm that wrecked Christmas travel plans across the U.S.
According to tracking service Flight Aware, more than 2,500 flights scheduled for Wednesday were canceled before 7 a.m., the vast majority of all the 2,747 canceled flights within, into or out of the U.S. set for that day.
At Oakland International Airport Wednesday, more than 100 Southwest Airlines flights were canceled and the airline and airport officials said Southwest planned to fly a reduced schedule over the next several days.
Kevin Cook's flight from Oakland to Hawaii was not one of the more than 120 flights cancelled on Wednesday. However, he was a bit wary as he checked in.
"Definitely a little bit more nervous than before," he said. "I was never truly that nervous, then I heard 70% of the flights got cancelled. Obviously, that put a little thought in my head that maybe that would happen, but we'll see."
Hector Leon-Rivera was one of the many travelers who was hoping to be reunited with his bags, after several days in the Bay Area without them. He flew in on Saturday, but to his knowledge, the bags never made it to Oakland.
"I'm hoping they're here in the mess of everything, but I have no idea," he said.
When KPIX 5 met him, he was scheduled to leave on a flight back home to Orlando. His hope was that he and his bags would end up back home on Wednesday night.
"I'm confident that we leave Oakland. I'm just fearful that the layover in Denver, we have another snag there," he said.
Nearly 150 Southwest flights were canceled at Mineta San Jose International Airport on Wednesday. A similar number are canceled for Thursday. A duty manager at San Francisco International Airport could not immediately say how many Southwest flights were canceled or delayed there.
Check your flight status: OAK | SFO | SJC
"They are trying to get things moving again," Oakland International spokesperson John Albrecht said about Southwest.
He said Southwest appears to have adequate staff at the airport. Sixty-two of the cancellations at Oakland International were departures. Sixteen other flights were delayed as of Wednesday morning, Albrecht said.
Quite a few bags still need to be reunited with passengers, but Albrecht said Southwest has the baggage area "well-staffed."
Oakland is home to the largest Southwest Airlines operation in California, with about 120 flights a day. Oakland also serves as a flight attendant and pilot base as well as a maintenance base for Southwest.
Southwest Airlines - Rebook or request refund for disrupted flight | Travel advisory, additional info
Buttigieg: Southwest should offer cash refunds
The airline is now drawing unwanted attention from Washington.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday that he expects Southwest to meet its duty to its passengers and workers and to take steps to be sure something similar doesn't occur in the future.
Flight attendants and pilots were stranded alongside passengers. Some had to sleep on cots while others had to book their own hotel rooms.
"Now we've never seen a situation, at least not on my watch, with this volume of disruptions so this is going to take an extraordinary level of effort by Southwest and we will mount an extraordinary effort to make sure that they're meeting their obligations," Buttigieg said through his press office.
Buttigieg, who has criticized airlines for previous disruptions, said his agency would examine the causes of Southwest's widespread cancellations and whether the airline was meeting its legal obligations to stranded customers.
"While we all understand that you can't control the weather, this has clearly crossed the line from what is an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the airline's direct responsibility," Buttigieg told "NBC Nightly News." He said Southwest should at least pay cash refunds for canceled flights and cover stranded passengers' hotel and meal costs.
In Congress, the Senate Commerce Committee also promised an investigation. Two Senate Democrats called on Southwest to provide "significant" compensation for stranded travelers, saying that the airline has the money because it plans to pay $428 million in dividends next month.
Bryce Burger and his family were supposed to be on a cruise to Mexico departing from San Diego on Dec. 24, but their flight from Denver was canceled without warning. The flight was rebooked through Burbank, California, but that flight was canceled while they sat at the gate.
"It's horrible," Burger said Tuesday by phone from Salt Lake City, where the family decided to drive after giving up the cruise.
The family's luggage is still at the Denver airport, and Burger doesn't know if he can get a refund for the cruise because the flight to California was booked separately.
At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, travelers said they were told they won't be able to catch another Southwest flight until Saturday, according to CBS News DFW.
Southwest said it was fully staffed and prepared for holiday travel last weekend. The airline said the severe weather caused changes to its flight schedule and the tools its staff members use to keep the airline operating at capacity.
Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the nation's 25 largest travel markets.
On Tuesday, a day after most U.S. airlines had recovered from the storm, Southwest had called off about 2,600 more flights on the East Coast by late afternoon Tuesday. Those flights accounted for more than 80% of the 3,000 trips that got canceled nationwide Tuesday, according to FlightAware.
At airports with major Southwest operations, customers stood in long lines hoping to find a seat on another flight. They described waiting hours on hold for help, only to be cut off. Some tried to rent cars to get to their destinations sooner. Others found spots to sleep on the floor. Luggage piled up in huge heaps.
Conrad Stoll, a 66-year-old retired construction worker in Missouri, planned to fly from Kansas City to Los Angeles for his father's 90th birthday party until his Southwest flight was canceled early Tuesday. He said he won't get to see his 88-year-old mother either.
"I went there in 2019, and she looked at me and said, 'I'm not going to see you again.'" Stoll said. "My sister has been taking care of them, and she's just like, 'They're really losing it really quick.'"
Stoll hopes to get another chance to see his parents in the spring, when the weather is warmer.
CEO vows to make it right
In a video that Southwest posted late Tuesday, CEO Robert Jordan said Southwest would operate a reduced schedule for several days but hoped to be "back on track before next week."
Jordan blamed the winter storm for snarling the airline's "highly complex" network. He said Southwest's tools for recovering from disruptions work "99% of the time, but clearly we need to double down" on upgrading systems to avoid a repeat of this week.
"We have some real work to do in making this right," said Jordan, a 34-year Southwest veteran who became CEO in February. "For now, I want you to know that we are committed to that."
The problems began over the weekend and snowballed Monday, when Southwest called off more than 70% of its flights.
That was after the worst of the storm had passed. The airline said many pilots and flight attendants were out of position to work their flights. Leaders of unions representing Southwest pilots and flight attendants blamed antiquated crew-scheduling software and criticized company management.
Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said the airline failed to fix problems that caused a similar meltdown in October 2021.
"There is a lot of frustration because this is so preventable," Murray said. "The airline cannot connect crews to airplanes. The airline didn't even know where pilots were at."
Murray said managers resorted this week to asking pilots at some airports to report to a central location, where they wrote down the names of pilots who were present and forwarded the lists to headquarters.
In an internal memo, meanwhile, Southwest's vice president of group operations on Dec. 21 warned of a "state of operational emergency" at the airline's hub in Denver because of a high number of employee absences, according to Bloomberg News.
Lyn Montgomery, president of the Transport Workers Union representing Southwest flight attendants, said she and other labor leaders have repeatedly told management that the airline's scheduling technology is not good enough.
"This has been something we have seen coming," she said. "This is a very catastrophic event."
Bryce Burger and his family were supposed to be on a cruise to Mexico departing from San Diego on Dec. 24, but their flight from Denver was canceled without warning. The flight was rebooked through Burbank, California, but that flight was canceled while they sat at the gate.
"It's horrible," Burger said Tuesday by phone from Salt Lake City, where the family decided to drive after giving up the cruise.
The family's luggage is still at the Denver airport, and Burger doesn't know if he can get a refund for the cruise because the flight to California was booked separately.
At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, travelers said they were told they won't be able to catch another Southwest flight until Saturday, according to CBS News DFW.
The size and severity of the storm created havoc for many airlines, although the largest number of canceled flights Tuesday were at airports where Southwest is a major carrier, including Denver, Chicago Midway, Las Vegas, Baltimore and Dallas.
Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines both canceled about 10% of their flights, with much smaller cancellation percentages at American, Delta, United and JetBlue.
"Oh my God, we're getting on a plane!"
Kristie Smiley planned to return home to Los Angeles until Southwest canceled her Tuesday flight, so she waited at the Kansas City airport for her mother to pick her up. Southwest can't put her on another plane until Sunday, New Year's Day.
Smiley said the airline kept blaming the weather after the storm passed and didn't tell passengers why planes couldn't take off.
"They like acted like [Tuesday's flight] was going to go until they started saying, 'Oh, five more minutes. Oh, 10 more minutes.' I'm not sure what's up with them. It seems a little off," she said.
Danielle Zanin vowed never to fly Southwest again after it took four days, several canceled flights and sleeping in the airport before she, her husband and their two young children got home to Illinois from Albuquerque, New Mexico. They made stops at airports in Denver and Phoenix and reached Chicago only after ditching Southwest and paying $1,400 for four one-way tickets on American Airlines.
"I remember saying, 'Oh my God, we're getting on a plane!' I was honestly shocked because I thought we were stuck in airports forever," she said.
Zanin plans to ask Southwest to be reimbursed for part of their original tickets plus the new ones on American, and extra spending on rental cars, parking, an Uber ride and food — about $2,000 in all.
"I don't have good faith that they will do much of anything," she said.
