Southwest: Most customers reimbursed, luggage returned after holiday travel fiasco

Weeks after thousands of flights were canceled over the holidays, Southwest Airlines says it's going to try to make it up to those inconvenienced.

Southwest said it has returned nearly all the luggage left to pile up in airports coast to coast, and has gotten most of it back to the owners.

Officials for the air carrier say they've almost completed paying out refunds, along with reimbursments and rapid rewards points.

The air carrier said it offered those most significantly impacted with 25,000 Rapid Rewards points.     

President and CEO Bob Jordan said Southwest is already working on hiring more staffers since employee shortages were a big part of the issues facing the company and its customers.

"Southwest has a long history of innovation and continuous improvement. We are currently budgeted to spend more than $1 billion of our annual operating plan on investments, upgrades, and maintenance of our IT systems. The recent disruption will accelerate our plans to enhance our processes and technology as we continue to focus on adding capabilities to bring rapid improvements for you, our valued Customers," Jordan said.

"We fell short of your expectations and the high standards we have of ourselves, and for that we are deeply sorry. It is our steadfast commitment to make the necessary changes to address the issues we faced and to regain your trust and confidence. We will continue down our path of providing you the exceptional service you expect and deserve from us. It's a passionate and personal pursuit for our entire Southwest Family, and we look forward to welcoming you onboard one of our flights very soon with the Heart and Hospitality we've been famous for delivering for 51-plus years."

They've also hired a consulting firm to review the fiasco and find other ways to prevent it from happening again.