Southwest saw its flaws revealed by the winter storm that raged across the United States. The airline, which canceled more than 15,000 flights in eight days and caused a major mess at airports, vowed operations would return to normal on Friday.
The hardships began with the extreme cold and heavy snow that hit the country just before Christmas and affected all airlines. But traffic more or less resumed Tuesday, with the exception of the Southwest. Of the approximately 2,800 flights canceled Wednesday, more than 2,500 were operated by Southwest, according to FlightAware. According to the global air traffic monitoring site, 57% of the airline’s flights were still canceled on Thursday.
>> Read also: Winter storm calms down across the US, but major outages persist
“We are encouraged by the progress we have made in realigning crews, their schedules and our fleet,” he pointed to the group on his site Thursday. “As we approach another long holiday weekend filled with important connections for our customers and employees, we look forward to returning to a normal state,” she added. And indeed, the company’s flights were going largely smoothly Friday morning, according to FlightAware data.
Outdated computer systems
Corporate unions questioned Southwest’s outdated computer systems, including those affecting crews. The problems have hit the airline all the more as its network is far more dispersed than its competitors, whose flights are concentrated around one or more key airports.
Southwest Pilots Association vice president Mike Santoro expressed his frustration on CNN, explaining that the company had long suffered from a “largely outdated” computer system, which made flight arrangements difficult.
“We’re tired of apologizing on behalf of Southwest,” he said, urging the company to invest in upgrading its system. “This is the biggest disruption I’ve ever seen in my 16 years with the company (…). It’s embarrassing,” he said.
Under fire from critics
The company has come under fire for its cascading cancellations, difficulties in contacting its customer service team, and numerous suitcases piled up at airports.
>> An example of a baggage mess at the Denver airport:
Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg said he would look closely at “what happened with their system”. “While we understand that it’s impossible to control the weather, the line has clearly been crossed here between an uncontrollable time situation and something that is the direct responsibility of the company,” he told NBC.
Southwest has made available a page on his site so that customers can submit their requests for reimbursement of expenses for meals, hotels and other means of transport used, as well as find their bags.
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