The operational emergency you're referencing are routine emergency sick procedures (enacted at our DEN operation). Customers can also speak with a representative at the baggage service office in an airport where we operate or contact Southwest customer service, though we are experiencing abnormally high call volumes. Information for Customers with lost baggage is here. Those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire. We are re-accommodating as many Customers as possible, based on available space, whose itineraries have been disrupted. With the weather now considerably more favorable, we continue work to stabilize and improve our operation. ![]() We are still experiencing disruptions across our network as a result of Winter Storm lingering effects on the totality of our operation. ET, with light snow falling on top of the huge amounts the area has already seen. The temperature at the airport was 18 degrees Fahrenheit around 2 p.m. Meanwhile, in hard-hit western New York, Buffalo International Airport said in its most recent tweet that it plans to resume passenger flights at 11 a.m. ![]() But the company has not offered clear guidelines about what expenses they will cover, only saying that they will honor "reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation (such as rental cars, or tickets on other airlines)."Īnd of course, there's no reimbursement for missing Christmas with your family, or spending a night on an airport floor with a cranky toddler and no luggage.The airline also says, "those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire." It has also previously committed, for any avoidable cancellation or extreme delay, to rebook passengers at no additional cost, and offer vouchers for meals and hotel accommodations.Īnd Southwest seems willing to cover even more costs for this debacle. Southwest is required by law to offer a full refund for a canceled flight. Customers may be reimbursed for "reasonable" expenses (. The same situation unfolded in this disaster, and many pilots and flight crews took to social media to express frustration with their own company. Pilots were ready to work, but Southwest didn't have planes or routes available for them. There were multiple scheduling meltdowns in the last two years that, while smaller than the Christmas disaster, indicated that Southwest had a problem. "And it's really just not scaled for an operation that we have today." "We're still using, not only IT from the '90s, but also processes when our airline was a tenth of the size," he said. The president of the union representing Southwest pilots called the Christmas meltdown "catastrophic" but told NPR he, for one, wasn't surprised by it - and neither were most pilots. I'm open to dating another airline." Customers aren't the only ones angry. Now, she says, "I've been thinking about it. "I have 50,000 miles with them," said Hillary Chang, a traveler whose bag is lost in the Southwest disaster vortex. ![]() "They're usually pretty good at responding to crises."Ĭustomers are bewildered by how terrible this experience has been. "They've got the best reputation for customer service and management agility," airline analyst Richard Aboulafia told NPR. It was a well-respected - in some cases, even beloved - company. Southwest isn't a fly-by-night operation, or a bare-bones discount airline where customers have low expectations and misery is part of the bargain. The epic failure of the airline caught many by surprise ![]() The Department of Transportation says it is launching its own investigation into exactly what went wrong. And he said the company clearly needed to accelerate its "already existing plans to upgrade systems." Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan compared the airline's debacle to a "giant puzzle" that needs to be solved. Weather The blizzard is just one reason behind the operational meltdown at Southwest Airlinesīy all accounts Southwest was using badly outdated computer systems to manage that complicated system.
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