Southwest Makes Amends For Meltdown: What IL Travelers Should Do

CHICAGO — Illinois travelers who were caught in the Southwest Airlines meltdown may qualify for frequent flier miles worth $300 as part of the airline’s apology for canceling more than 15,000 flights nationwide as travelers were trying to get to and from their holiday destinations.

At O’Hare International and Midway airports in Chicago, approximately 700 Southwest flights were canceled over the period of disruption while myriad other flights were delayed. The majority of the canceled flights occurred at Midway, where Southwest is the predominant airline to fly out of the airport.

Across the country, Southwest Airlines reported more than 3,000 Southwest flights that were canceled over a holiday season in which travelers around the country got stranded at airports and dealt with lost luggage.

The embattled airline sent out emails Tuesday to customers who were “significantly impacted” — whether their flights were completely canceled or delayed more than three hours — and offered them 25,000 Rapid Reward points.

The points, which have a value of more than $300, can be applied to another flight or for the purchase of gift cards and Southwest merchandise.

The meltdown stranded thousands of travelers in airports, and many said the airline did little to get them to their holiday destinations on time.

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in the email that the airline “fell short” of its customers’ expectations.

“I know that no amount of apologies can undo your experience,” he said.

The airline said it is still working “with great urgency” to reunite customers with their lost bags, but that could take another two weeks, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN. In it, Jordan said the airline is relying on volunteer employees working with others who usually handle baggage.

The number of lost bags is about half what it was a week ago, according to CNN.

Southwest has blamed the meltdown on a severe winter storm that brought whiteout conditions and fierce winds to many parts of the country. Other airlines canceled flights, too, but recovered before Christmas.

Industry analysts say the weather wasn’t Southwest’s only problem. The airline continues to wrestle with staff shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, employees out sick at Christmastime with influenza and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), and, most important, outdated crew scheduling computer systems.

“In short, everything possible has gone wrong for Southwest, including some problems of their own making,” Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, a travel website, told NPR two days after Christmas. “At this point, we can very safely say that this is no longer a weather-related disturbance. … Southwest is the only airline that is failing so spectacularly here.”

Jordan acknowledged that in his email, saying, “Southwest experienced a unique combination of events that started with severe weather at our busiest airports and transitioned into other operational challenges that stretched our people, processes, tools, and technology.”

Federal regulators have vowed to make a rigorous review of Southwest’s disruptions, with special attention to outdated crew-scheduling technology that left flight crews out of place after the storm hit, essentially shutting down almost all carriers’ operations, The Associated Press reported.

Travelers who want to take advantage of the Rapid Rewards mea culpa should go to Southwest’s travel disruption hub.