Is Southwest still canceling fights?

HOUSTON — Southwest Airlines mentioned it expects to return to regular operations Friday after slashing about two-thirds of its schedule in current days, together with canceling one other 2,350 flights Thursday.

Southwest is struggling to get well after being overwhelmed by a winter storm that left tons of of pilots and flight attendants stranded out of position to function flights.

READ: Here’s how one can request a refund or rebook your Southwest Airlines flight

It is probably going that excess of 1 million passengers have been affected. Southwest has canceled greater than 13,000 flights since its meltdown started on Dec. 22. Its planes have 143 to 175 seats and have been seemingly almost absolutely booked across the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Other airways are again to full energy. Delta, American and United collectively canceled round 30 flights by late morning, in line with tracker FlightAware.

Southwest’s cancellations amounted to 58% of its schedule, barely higher than in earlier days. The Dallas service accounted for greater than 95% of all canceled flights within the United States on Thursday.

About the one excellent news for Southwest passengers was that 98% of flights that took off Thursday managed to land inside quarter-hour of schedule, meeting the federal government’s definition of an on-time arrival.

Southwest has acknowledged that it has insufficient and outdated technology that may depart flight crews out of position when dangerous climate strikes.

READ: Department of Transportation ‘involved’ by Southwest’s flight cancellations

The airline has declined requests to make executives out there for remark and didn’t present an replace about operations on its web site. Its primary public outreach has been to submit video statements by CEO Robert Jordan and its chief business officer.

Jordan faces a disaster simply 11 months after he grew to become CEO, changing longtime chief Gary Kelly. Southwest had 88 planes and seven,000 staff when Jordan joined 35 years in the past. Now it has greater than 700 planes and greater than 60,000 staff.

Speaking to reporters a month in the past at Southwest headquarters in Dallas, a relaxed and jocular Jordan spoke in glowing phrases concerning the airline’s tradition and customer support. He outlined 5 priorities, together with modernizing the airline’s technology for scheduling pilots and flight attendants.

“I do think the scale and the growth of the airline got ahead of the tools that we have,” he mentioned. “No fault of anybody — takes investment — and we’ll get all this done.”

Jordan didn’t give a timeline or greenback determine for that funding, or clarify why the airline had not already performed the work. But his feedback concerning the airline’s archaic crew-scheduling system appeared to foreshadow one of many main causes of the present meltdown — the lack to get pilots and flight attendants in position when there’s a disruption to the operation.

“We have a lot of crews moving all over the country,” he mentioned then. “If they get reassigned — they should go to a distinct metropolis or totally different flight than they thought, or they get reassigned to a brand new resort — anyone must name them or principally within the airport chase them down and inform them what their re-route seems like.

“So at our size and scale, that’s just not OK.”

The federal authorities is investigating what occurred at Southwest.

Southwest added a page to its website particularly for stranded vacationers, and it invited clients to submit receipts for surprising bills. The airline mentioned it could take into account reimbursing “reasonable” bills for meals, resort rooms and alternate transportation incurred between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2. Consumer advocates criticized using the phrase “reasonable” as too imprecise.

Thousands of shoppers have been unable to succeed in the airline this week, as Southwest’s cellphone system was overwhelmed. Pilots and flight attendants additionally reported being placed on maintain for hours.

Investors seem to suppose that Southwest may lastly be getting a deal with on the disaster. The company’s shares rose greater than 3% , however they’re still down 8% for the week.

The airline has not given an estimate for a way a lot income it has lost and the way a lot additional value it would incur – Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and a few members of Congress are demanding that Southwest pay stranded vacationers for resort rooms, meals and substitute flights they booked on different airways.

One indication of the worth tag: Southwest mentioned a disruption in October 2021 value it $75 million. That meltdown was far smaller, leading to about 2,000 canceled flights over a four-day stretch. Back then, as this week, Southwest’s resolution was to chop its schedule to stabilize the operation.

Southwest has been probably the most worthwhile U.S. airline to this point this year, incomes $759 million in web earnings via September.

Raymond James airline analyst Savanthi Syth mentioned Thursday that she still expects the company to submit a small revenue within the fourth quarter, however that some shoppers are prone to change from Southwest to different airways over the following few months when reserving journey.

Did Southwest Airlines cancel your flight?

The airline says all clients who had journeys deliberate between Sunday, Dec. 25 and Monday, Jan. 2 are in a position to rebook their flight or travel on standby with out paying any extra charges.

Rebook your Southwest Airlines flight here

Use this form to request a refund from Southwest Airlines

If your flight was canceled, you too can request a refund for your unused ticket to the unique type of fee.

In addition, these customers impacted by flight cancellations or significant delays between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2 can submit or email their receipts to Southwest for reimbursement. The airline mentioned they’ll honor affordable reimbursement requests for meals, inns and alternate transportation.

In a press release, Southwest mentioned they’ll “make things right for those we’ve let down, including our employees.”

Meanwhile, the journey nightmare for 1000’s of Southwest passengers continues. Most of the airline’s flights over the following couple of days have been canceled, leaving passengers stranded and, in lots of instances, separated from their baggage.