Southwest Airlines passengers furious with ongoing lost luggage mess
BOSTON - Southwest Airlines is operating a normal flight schedule once again, but they are still trying to recover from last week's meltdown. Employees are also working around the clock to reunite passengers with their missing luggage.
The Walker family located luggage at Logan Airport Wednesday morning that they haven't seen since Christmas Day.
"It was like a nightmare. It was truly a nightmare to not know where your bags were," Teaka Walker told WBZ-TV.
They left Boston for Miami to catch a Christmas cruise, but her 15-year-old daughter Brielle's bags never made it.
"The night before a cruise we're having to scramble to go out and buy clothes, buy sneakers, buy shoes so she could have stuff on the cruise," Teaka said.
"It was just a lot. I wanted to cry but I didn't," Brielle said.
Southwest canceled thousands of flights during the busy Christmas week, disrupting and ruining people's plans.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating and at least one passenger is now suing the airline, claiming they offered him a credit for his canceled flights, instead of a refund.
Hannah Jackson's flight from Houston to her connection in Chicago was rerouted Tuesday because of bad weather. She finally made it back to Boston Wednesday morning, minus one bag.
"I have two bags. One of them was on this flight and the other one I have no idea where it is," she told WBZ.
Southwest says they are trying to repair their relationships with their customers, giving 25,000 frequent flyer bonus points to some impacted passengers.
They also say they're working on improvements to their processes and systems to help them recover from future disruptions.
The Walkers say they hope Southwest will make things right by reimbursing them.
"The bag that was shipped back here everything in it is soaking wet like they left it outside," Teaka Walker said. "To say the least, just annoyed."
Southwest has launched a website where people can request a refund and fill out a form to help locate their luggage.
