More Than 100 Southwest Flights Canceled At Tampa Airport As Crisis Continues

TAMPA, FL — Thousands of Southwest Airlines flights across the United States were canceled Wednesday, including more than 100 scheduled at Tampa International Airport in what federal officials are calling a "meltdown" of the airline's system.

Southwest has been affected more than any other airline by last week's massive winter storm. Of the nearly 2,800 flights within, into or out of the United States that had been canceled Wednesday, more than 2,500 were Southwest flights. The airline said it plans to operate roughly a third of its schedule over the next several days.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, out of 111 flights canceled Wednesday at Tampa International Airport, 106 were Southwest flights. The remaining were Frontier, Jet Blue and American Airlines flights.

• RELATED: Mass Southwest Cancellations Ongoing, CEO Says He Is 'Truly Sorry'

The numerous cancellations have prompted scrutiny from federal officials with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg saying his department would hold the airline accountable.

"This is an unacceptable situation," Buttigieg told CNN. "Their system really has completely melted down and our department will be holding them accountable … both to get them through this situation and to make sure this can’t happen again."

In a video statement Tuesday, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said he was "truly sorry," adding that he had been in contact with Buttigieg.

Speaking to CNN, Buttigieg said he had conveyed to the CEO the department's expectation that the airline would go above and beyond to take care of passengers.

"Here's why this giant puzzle is taking us several days to solve," Jordan said in his statement.

"Southwest is the largest carrier in the country, not only because of our value and our values, but because we build our flight schedule around communities, not hubs ... Cities where large numbers of scheduled flights simultaneously froze as record bitter cold brought challenges for all airlines." he said. "Our network is highly complex and the operation of the airline counts on all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews remaining in motion to where they're planned to go."

“They ruined Christmas, Bah Humbug,” Kristin Lineberger of Denver said of Southwest Airlines, which canceled their direct flighton Christmas Eve. The airline rebooked them to fly through Austin, Texas, on Monday, but that flight never took off either.

“I never ever would have dreamed we would be in a situation like this, ever,” Lineberger told WFLA.

On Tuesday they decided to make a 30-hour, 1,900-mile road trip home to Colorado in a rental car.

Buttigieg said the airline was having issues with systems for managing its schedule and crew. He noted that the rest of the aviation industry was on its way to recovery following the worst of the storm with cancellations on other airlines being significantly lower.

The continued cancellations come following an even larger series of cancellations the day after Christmas. On Monday, 3,989 flights were canceled, 2,909 of which were Southwest flights.

Scenes from airports shared on social media show bags piled up at airports across the country as customers were left stranded. Customers also faced long hold times when trying to reach the airline over the phone.

Southwest Airlines added that customers could get their tickets refunded but warned those who plan to immediately rebook that availability is limited. Customers trying to reach the airline's call centers were experiencing long wait times.

The airline has a systemwide waiver in place until Jan.2 and encouraged customers to use self-service options to rebook or cancel flights.