Southwest returns to normal with few cancellations, delays

A man sits on the ground between two suitcases and a woman sits in an airport wheelchair nearby.

Dec. 30, 2022 Updated 2:25 PM PT

After a historic meltdown that forced Southwest Airlines to cancel more than 50% of its flights over the last eight days, the carrier appeared to be running smoothly Friday, reporting minimal cancellations and delays.

Less than 1% of Southwest flights were canceled across the U.S. on Friday morning, according to the website FlightAware — a significant improvement from earlier in the week, when the carrier was operating at one-third its typical operations.

The FlightAware tracker’s prediction for Saturday shows no disruptions to Southwest flights.

It’s a welcome change that arrived just in time for the next wave of travelers for New Year’s Eve.

Southwest Airlines Chief Executive Bob Jordan apologized Friday for the cancellations that stranded passengers and crew members across the country.

“This is something that we had never seen in our 51 years,” Jordan said on “Good Morning America.” Passengers can expect refunds for tickets and expenses, he said.

“This has impacted so many people, so many customers, over the holidays. It’s impacted our employees,” Jordan said. “I’m extremely sorry for that. There’s just no ways, almost, to apologize enough, because we love our customers, we love our people, and we really impacted their plans.”

A severe storm that pounded the nation kick-started the airport mayhem just before Christmas, challenging all airlines’ operations. But as other carriers recovered, Southwest continued to struggle. Industry experts and union leaders said the storm exposed outdated technology and vulnerable operations that stymied the carrier’s ability to nimbly shift its services.

Though service appeared to be restored Friday morning, the airline is still staring down serious challenges, including repairing its reputation and dealing with the thousands of passengers who experienced holiday travel disruptions and took on additional costs for alternate travel or are still searching for their luggage.

“Southwest Airlines will be looking at and taking care of things like rental cars, hotel rooms, meals, booking customers on other airlines ,” the airline said in a statement Friday. “That will all be part of what we’re covering here as we reimburse our customers and make good on this issue.”

The airline set up a webpage for customers to submit refund and reimbursement requests for meals, hotels and alternate transportation and to connect with baggage. The carrier is promising to honor “reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel and alternate transportation” on a case-by-case basis for problems experienced from Dec. 24 through Jan. 2.

From Dec. 22 through Thursday, the airline canceled more than 15,000 flights, according to FlightAware.

The Southwest Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport appeared to be operating normally Friday morning, with dozens of people waiting to check in for flights and a steady stream of travelers moving about the airport. Departure and arrival boards showed that flights were on time, with a few exceptions.

Across the nation Friday, Southwest reported about 300 delayed flights, or 7% of its operations, according to FlightAware.

Claudia Pineda’s 5 a.m. Southwest flight from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was delayed because of mechanical issues — one of the 55 flights across all airlines to arrive late to LAX on Friday, per FlightAware.

Passengers on Pineda’s flight had to change planes and didn’t leave until after 7 a.m., she said, adding to concerns that the flight might not make it to L.A.

“We kept seeing all the flights getting canceled. We didn’t know what to expect,” Pineda said. “But aside from the delay, it was a smooth experience.”

A routine Southwest flier, Arianna Brooks was dreading the same 5 a.m. flight from Austin after a week’s worth of cancellations by the airline flooded the news.

“This was my first experience where we were delayed like this,” Brooks said after arriving in Los Angeles for the holiday weekend. “My outlook for Southwest has been good, but they really need to get their act together.”

Venetia Robinson of Oakland arrived at LAX shortly before 9 a.m. for a trip to visit family in Southern California for the holiday weekend.

Unsure if the flight would be delayed or canceled, she looked into renting a car and driving to Los Angeles but couldn’t find any available in her area.

She called Southwest ahead of the flight.

“I was surprised I got hold of an agent,” Robinson said. She took a chance and found it to be an easy trip.

“On the flight, you could hear it in the employees’ voices,” Robinson said. “They explained everything and were very accommodating.”

Other passengers were still trying to get home after several days of delays.

Yvette Peters, husband Stanley and teenage daughter Kayla of Atlanta were stranded in Hawaii earlier in the week.

Two flights to the mainland were canceled within five hours of each other, Stanley Peters said Friday morning as he sat on the floor inside the Southwest Airlines terminal at LAX.

“We couldn’t get a room or rent a car, because the island was booked up with people arriving for the holiday break,” Yvette Peters said.

She tried to get through to someone at Southwest earlier in the week but at one point was on the phone for five hours.

They booked a flight with Hawaiian Airlines to get back to the mainland and were due to fly Southwest on Friday to Arizona, then home to Atlanta early Saturday.

The family saw plenty of angry customers arguing with Southwest employees over the past several days.

“You might as well smile,” Yvette Peters said. “What can you do about it?”

Still, the family is bothered by how little remorse Southwest has shown them.

The airline’s offer of compensation had not reached the Peterses Friday morning. So far, Stanley Peters said, it had offered only a $100 voucher.

“Southwest should be concerned about their passengers,” Yvette Peters said. “They should compensate people for all this inconvenience.”