Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights again on Tuesday after the massive winter storm that wiped out Christmas travel plans across the United States, and the federal government said it will investigate why the company has lagged so far behind other airlines.
A day after most U.S. airlines recovered from the storm, Southwest canceled about 2,600 more East Coast flights through late afternoon. Those flights accounted for more than 80% of the 3,000 trips canceled across the country on Tuesday, according to tracking service FlightAware.
And the chaos seemed sure to continue. The airline also canceled 2,500 flights for Wednesday and more than 2,300 for Thursday as it tried to restore order to its garbled schedule.
In a video Southwest released late Tuesday, CEO Robert Jordan said Southwest would operate on a reduced schedule for several days but hoped to “be back on track before next week.”
Jordan blamed the winter storm for messing up the airline’s “highly complex” network. He said Southwest’s tools for recovering from disruptions “work 99% of the time, but we clearly need to double down” on updating systems to avoid a repeat this week.
“We still have some work to do to get this right,” said Jordan, a 34-year Southwest veteran who became CEO in February. “Right now, I want you to know that we’re committed to that.”
Lyn Montgomery, president of the Transport Workers Union, which represents Southwest flight attendants, said she and other union leaders have repeatedly told management the airline’s scheduling technology is not good enough.
“That was something we saw coming,” she said. “This is a very catastrophic event.”
The airline is now attracting unwanted attention from Washington.
Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has criticized airlines for previous disruptions, said his agency will investigate the causes of Southwest’s widespread cancellations and whether the airline is meeting its legal obligations to stranded customers.
“While we all understand that you can’t control the weather, this has clearly crossed the line from an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the direct responsibility of the airline,” Buttigieg told NBC Nightly News. He said Southwest should at least pay cash refunds for canceled flights and cover stranded passengers’ hotel and meal expenses.
In Congress, the Senate Commerce Committee also promised an investigation. Two Senate Democrats have called on Southwest to provide stranded travelers with “substantial” compensation and said the airline has the money because it plans to pay $428 million in dividends next month.
The size and severity of the storm wreaked havoc on many airlines, though most of Tuesday’s canceled flights occurred at airports where Southwest is a major carrier, including Denver, Chicago Midway, Las Vegas, Baltimore and Dallas.
Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines have both canceled about 10% of their flights, with much lower cancellation percentages at American, Delta, United, and JetBlue.
Danielle Zanin vowed never to fly Southwest again after it took four days, canceled multiple flights and slept at the airport before she, her husband and their two young children returned to Illinois from Albuquerque, New Mexico. They made stops at airports in Denver and Phoenix and only reached Chicago after leaving Southwest and paying $1,400 for four one-way tickets on American Airlines.
“I remember saying, ‘Oh my God, we’re getting on a plane!’ I was honestly shocked because I thought we were going to be stuck in airports forever,” she said.
Zanin plans to ask Southwest to refund a portion of her original tickets plus the new ones for American Airlines, plus additional expenses for rental cars, parking, an Uber ride, and food — totaling about $2,000.
“I don’t have good faith that they’re going to do much of anything,” she said.