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

DALLAS, TX — Southwest Airline passengers faced yet another day of mass cancellations after severe winter weather leading up to Christmas threw the carrier's operations into disarray. With the airline saying it would operate roughly a third of its schedule over the next several days, more than 2,500 Southwest flights were canceled Wednesday, according to FlightAware.

The flight tracking website showed that nearly 2,800 flights within, into or out of the United States that had been canceled Wednesday, 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 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.

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.

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.

In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul described the situation in Buffalo—one of the hardest hit areas—as like a “war zone”, calling it an “epic, once-in-a-lifetime” storm that has killed several people.

This story will be updated.