Southwest says 'normal' services to resume on Friday
MIAMI - Southwest Airlines says it's poised to resume normal schedules on Friday after a tumultuous eight-day meltdown that left hundreds of thousands of passengers delayed or stranded and prompted its executives to make apologies to the riding public and government officials.
In a statement released Thursday -- following another bruising day in which a further 2,300 flights were canceled and government officials called for the airline to account for its shortcomings -- Southwest said it hoped for minimal disruptions over the New Year's weekend.
"We are encouraged by the progress we've made to realign crew, their schedules, and our fleet," it said. "With another holiday weekend full of important connections for our valued customers and employees, we are eager to return to a state of normalcy.
The statement came with more contrition from the airline.
"We know even our deepest apologies -- to our customers, to our employees, and to all affected through this disruption -- only go so far," the statement read.
"We've set up a page at Southwest.com/traveldisruption for customers to submit refund and reimbursement requests for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation; as well as to connect customers to their baggage."
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Earlier in the day, the airline's chief commercial officer, Ryan Green, offered his regrets over the collapse of services, promising to rebuild customer relations that have sunk to rock bottom during the busy holiday travel period.
"My personal apology is the first step of making things right after many plans changed and experiences fell short of your expectations of us," Green said in a video issued Thursday.
"We're continuing to work to make this up to you, and you'll continue to hear about that soon. But for now, we're focused on restoring the reliability and level of customer experience we expect of ourselves, and you expect of us."
His remarks, which follow earlier apologies from airline CEO Bob Jordan, came as US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made his own scathing assessment Southwest's troubles, calling the situation a complete "meltdown."
"You've got a company here that's got a lot of cleaning up to do," he said.
'Perfect storm'
Elaine Chao, who served as Secretary of Transportation during the Trump administration, described the Southwest Airlines breakdown as "a failure of unbelievable proportions."
She told CNN it was "a perfect storm of all the things that have been going on with the company."
"It's going to take them a very long time" to rebuild trust with consumers, she added.
Among those affected was bride-to-be Katie Demeko from St. Louis, who had to postpone her wedding after her Southwest flight to Belize was canceled at the last minute.
"We went to the the airport, our flight was on time, and when we were getting ready to board, the captain came out gave a speech and basically told us the flight was canceled," she told CNN.
"At that point I had a lot of my family with me, I was in shock, We tried to rebook, and there was nothing."
She said Southwest offered to rebook her on a January 2 flight, which would've been three days too late. While the wedding is now postponed, she and her family and friends have lost money on food and accommodation.
"We're just devastated," she said.
Thursday was shaping up to be more of the same, with Southwest departures accounting for 2,362 of a total of 2,476 flights canceled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
FlightAware statistics showing that only 39 Southwest flights have so far been canceled for Friday appeared to back up Southwest's claim that normal services would be more or less resumed on Friday.
The airline has also begun notifying customers that it expects to fly a "full schedule" on Friday, after more than a week of massive flight disruptions.
An e-mail to a passenger scheduled to fly Southwest on Friday read: "While we have recently experienced operational challenges, we expect to resume a full schedule of flights with minimal disruptions on your day of travel."
A ray of hope?
An official for the union representing Southwest pilots said their flight schedules were expected to be almost back to normal by the end of the work week.
Mike Santoro, vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that the union understands the airline is planning for a "mostly full schedule come Friday."
"The weather, you know, was a big event that triggered it, although that's no excuse for the lack of scheduling IT infrastructure which really caused the problem," Santoro said.
As of 8 a.m. ET Thursday, Southwest had canceled only 39 flights for Friday, according to FlightAware.
The union official said Southwest's scheduling infrastructure usually works well, but added this is not the first time they have seen a meltdown causing delays. "When you have these big weather events, it always seems to crash," said Santoro.
Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry told CNN the airline is not experiencing an issue with employees not showing up for work.
"We have not had staffing issues at any station across our operation and commend our people for the valiant work they are doing," Perry said.
Tough stats for Southwest this week
In all, Southwest has canceled about 15,700 flights since winter weather began disrupting air travel on December 22. (That figure includes the flights already canceled for Thursday.)
Other US airlines flying in the same weather conditions have since recovered from the storm disruptions.
In fact, American Airlines and United Airlines have capped prices on some routes served by Southwest Airlines to make their flights more accessible to stranded passengers.
Southwest does not have interline agreements with other carriers that would allow its agents to rebook passengers on a different airline, leaving travelers in charge of exploring other options.
Buttigieg says he spoke directly to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan on Tuesday about the thousands of flights that have been canceled this week.
"Their system really has completely melted down," Buttigieg told Blitzer. "I made clear that our department will be holding them accountable for their responsibilities to customers, both to get them through this situation and to make sure that this can't happen again."
Those responsibilities include providing meal vouchers and hotel accommodations for passengers whose flights were disrupted "as a result of Southwest's decisions and actions," a Department of Transportation (DOT) spokesperson said.
US airlines are also required to provide cash refunds to passengers whose flights were canceled and opted not to travel, the DOT said.
Buttigieg told CNN the Department of Transportation is prepared to pursue fines against Southwest if there is evidence that the company has failed to meet its legal obligations, but he added that the department will be taking a closer look at consistent customer service problems at the airline.
The secretary said he told CEO Jordan that he expects Southwest to proactively offer refunds and expense reimbursement to affected passengers without them having to ask.
What customers should do
One travel expert cautions to proceed carefully regarding refunds.
"Southwest says 'We will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation,' " points out Phil Dengler, co-founder of travel advice site The Vacationer.
"While Southwest is being vague on how much they will reimburse, I would avoid any expensive hotels or restaurants. Use Google Hotels to find nearby hotels near the airport where you are stranded."
And he also cautions about piling up a big tab.
"Do a few Google searches such as 'free things to do near me.' I doubt Southwest is going to reimburse tours or other paid activities, so I would not book any expensive excursions that you cannot afford."