Southwest cancels more flights at South Florida airports
MIAMI - For passengers booked with Southwest Airlines this week relief is still a few days away.
On Wednesday the air carrier canceled more than 2,500 flights.
As of 8 a.m., at Miami International, eight Southwest arrivals and 12 departures were canceled. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, 19 arrivals and 16 departures were canceled.
Out of the 2,743 cancellations already made for Wednesday flights within, into or out of the United States as of 5:30 a.m., 2,505 of them are operated by Southwest, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Meanwhile, the website shows the airline has already canceled another 2,348 flights for Thursday.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has referred to the cancelations of thousands of flights over the holiday travel period as a complete meltdown of the system.
Buttigieg says he spoke directly to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan on Tuesday about the thousands of flights that have been canceled this week with no immediate indication of when passengers can rebook.
"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," he said.
Long lines of travelers attempting to rebook or make connections were witnessed at Southwest ticket counters at multiple US airports on Tuesday, while huge piles of unclaimed bags continued to grow as passengers struggled to reclaim their luggage.
Passenger Trisha Jones told CNN at the airport in Atlanta that she and her partner had been traveling for five days, trying to get home to Wichita, Kansas, after disembarking from a cruise in Fort Lauderdale.
After her flight out was canceled, she stayed with relatives, then rerouted to Atlanta to pick up a connecting flight.
"We were fortunate, because we were in Fort Lauderdale -- my family lives in the Tampa Bay area so we were able to rent a car to go see my family for Christmas," Jones said. "We've seen a lot of families who are sleeping on the floor, and it just breaks my heart."
Jordan apologized to passengers and employees in a video statement released by the company on Tuesday evening.
"We're doing everything we can to return to a normal operation, and please also hear that I am truly sorry," Jordan said.
While Jordan acknowledged problems with the company response, the statement suggested that he did not foresee massive changes to Southwest's procedures in response to the mass cancellations.
"The tools we use to recover from disruption serve us well 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," said Jordan.
Southwest has blamed the travel disaster on several factors, including winter storm delays, aggressive flight scheduling, and outdated infrastructure.
"From what I can tell, Southwest is unable to locate even where their own crews are, let alone their own passengers, let alone baggage," said Buttigieg, adding that he also spoke with leaders of the airline's unions representing flight attendants and pilots.
Buttigieg said he told CEO Jordan that he expects Southwest to proactively offer refunds and expense reimbursement to affected passengers without them having to ask.
"I conveyed to the CEO our expectation that they going to go above and beyond to take care of passengers and to address this," he said.
The secretary said 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.
"While all of the other parts of the aviation system have been moving toward recovery and getting better each day, it's actually been moving the opposite direction with this airline," said Buttigieg.
Southwest has warned that this week's cancellations and delays are expected to continue for several more days.
So what should customers do?
"First things first, travelers who are still stuck waiting on Southwest and need to get somewhere should try to book a flight with another airline as soon as possible ... right now, really," said Kyle Potter, executive editor at the travel advice website Thrifty Traveler, in an email to CNN Travel late Tuesday afternoon.
"Every airline in the country is jam-packed right now, so your odds of even finding a seat -- let alone at an even halfway decent price -- get smaller by the hour," Potter said.
"Travelers in the thick of this should be sure to save all their receipts: other flights, a rental car, nights at the hotel, meals, anything," Potter said.
If you've been left in the lurch and your efforts to reach a customer service agent are going nowhere, the founder of Scott's Cheap Flights suggests trying an international number.
"The main hotline for US airlines will be clogged with other passengers getting rebooked. To get through to an agent quickly, call any one of the airline's dozens of international offices," Scott Keyes said.
"Agents can handle your reservation just like US-based ones can, but there's virtually no wait to get through."
Click here to get the international numbers that Southwest has previously posted.
