Southwest Cancellations: Airline Plans Return To Normal Operations

DALLAS, TX — Southwest Airlines says it plans to resume normal operations with minimal disruptions on Friday after days of mass cancellations, the airline said Thursday.

"We are encouraged by the progress we've made to realign Crew, their schedules, and our fleet," the airline said in an update. "With another holiday weekend full of important connections for our valued Customers and Employees, we are eager to return to a state of normalcy."

The airline also announced new ways for consumers to get refunds and reimbursements and other airlines offered price caps as passengers faced another day of mass cancellations in the wake of a winter storm around Christmas.

“I want to speak to every single person disrupted by our challenges, and I want to offer you three things,” Southwest's Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Green said in a video message Wednesday, explaining that the airline has "specific, new resources" to help customers get information and service more quickly.

Southwest is now offering extended flexibility for self-service travel changes through January 2, which according to Green, means that anyone with travel plans with the airline before then should be able to make flight changes directly on the Southwest website without having to speak to anyone.

Green also announced new links on Southwest's website to help customers get their stranded bags, request refunds for canceled flights and submit receipts for reimbursement for travel expenses that resulted from the disruption.

Southwest's competitors, United and American Airlines, told CNN that they plan to help travelers affected by the meltdown by placing price caps on travel to and from certain cities.

“We’re doing our part to help get people where they need to be and we’re putting a cap on fares for select cities,” American Airlines tweeted to multiple people who complained to the airline with screenshots of sky-high costs of flights.

According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, nearly 2,451 flights within, into or out of the United States have been canceled Thursday, a majority of which are operated by Southwest.

The severe 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 an interview with ABC News Tuesday, Buttigieg added that “What we’re seeing is something beyond what can be attributed to the weather.”

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."

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.

Pointing to customer service commitments the department had secured from major airlines over the summer, Buttigieg said they would be using that as a tool for accountability. Jordan pledged that Southwest would not only meet but exceed the customer service standards, according to Buttigieg.

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. Flights departing smaller airports, such as Palm Springs International and Ontario International in Southern California were "hit or miss" with cancellations as the airline struggled to run roughly 30% of its fleet Tuesday morning.

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.

The airline's woes come after a massive winter storm pummeled large parts of the country with heavy snowfall, high winds and bone-chilling temperatures. The storm knocked out power to millions and wreaked havoc on Americans' travel plans.

This story will be updated.