Southwest Airlines cancels more than 70% of flights, impacts holiday travel

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

by Madison Bibbey

Staff Writer

Luggage from canceled flights piles up at John Glenn Columbus International Airport. Photo by Meri Wheeler.

After winter storm Elliot swept through the Midwest Southwest struggled. Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,900 flights on Monday December 26. As a result many travelers were left stranded. Southwest did not offer any vouchers for hotels or food to those passengers. Friday December 30th, Southwest said they were resuming normal operations after scheduling flight crews manually. In total from Dec. 22 to Dec. 29 more than 15,000 flights were canceled, according to USA Today.

The president of the Transport Workers Union representing Southwest flight attendants, Lyn Montgomery as well as other labor leaders have told Southwest that their scheduling technology wasn’t good enough, multiple times. Capt. Tom Nekouei, the Southwest Pilots Union vice president, published a letter regarding the airline’s leadership. Nekouei wrote “Gary Kelly (former CEO) still reigns supreme on the board of this company despite having overseen the decisions and setting the conditions that made this most recent fiasco possible”.

He then proceeded to write that “This is a Gary Kelly problem.” Despite these issues, guidance counselor Mrs. Buscemi thinks “the humans that work for Southwest are awesome” so she’ll continue to fly southwest. Southwest is now under investigation by transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg and by the Senate commerce committee. Many of the stranded travelers luggage was lost. However most were concerned with getting home or having a bed to sleep in overnight. Many people tried to book different flights but availability was limited and Southwest doesn’t have any partnerships with other airlines. Travelers then turned to rental cars but because of the sheer amount of stranded passengers the availability quickly declined. As a result many people had to sleep on the airport floor, some with only a carry-on. One Hilliard Bradley senior Addison Eckstein got “stuck in two airports: one in Jamaica and one in Atlanta”. Addison and her family once getting to Atlanta were able to get the last of the airport’s rental cars and drive home.

With cancellations mounting many stranded passengers had to book flights days later and with different airlines. Many now want Southwest to cover the cost of those flights. Southwest has stated that they plan to reimburse stranded travelers if they have the right paperwork. In the meantime however Southwest is offering 25,000 bonus rapid reward points apiece. Mrs. Buscemi shared that in addition to reward points her family also “received full credit back for our flight”. Her family also received “a $200 ‘Luv voucher’ per passenger” that needs to be used within a year.

Southwest canceled over 15,000 flights amidst the holidays. This was caused by outdated technology and winter storm Elliot. After flights were canceled, many lost luggage and we’re stuck in the airport. Initially Southwest wasn’t offering vouchers. Many travelers are just now getting refunded. Despite this mess many are still supportive of Southwest and will continue to fly with them.