Luggage Piles Up, Chicago Travelers Remain Stranded as Southwest Airlines to 'Operate a Reduced Schedule' For 'Several Days' (2024)

Holiday travelers hoping to catch a Southwest Airlines flight home Tuesday may not have much luck at O'Hare or Midway International Airport, as the airline continues to cancel hundreds of flights, with many passengers saying they received conflicting notifications or no notifications whatsoever.

“We spent three hours waiting,” said Natalie Flowers, of her Southwest flight out of Midway. “We were not told before that our flight was canceled. We got no notification whatsoever.”

As of 5 a.m. Tuesday, 38 Southwest flights in or out of O'Hare Airport had been canceled. According to FlyChicago, that accounts for more than half of the total cancelations at the airport. At Midway, 233 out of the 240 total canceled flights at the airport were from Southwest.

Last week's severe winter weather caused nearly 20,000 flights nationwide across multiple airlines, according to FlightAware. However, as airlines released statements saying they were able to rebook most passengers, problems persisted for Southwest. According to NBC News, Southwest on Monday had canceled at least 2,893 flights, compared to around 300 for Delta, and 130 for United.

In a statement to NBC Chicago Monday, a spokesperson Southwest said the disruptions were largely due to "Winter Storm Elliott's lingering effects," though they noted a "scheduling issue" played a role in the delays and problems reported the day after the Christmas holiday.

The airline's cancellations and continued problems caught the attention of the United States’ Department of Transportation, who called the rate of canceled flights “disproportionate and unacceptable.”

“USDOT is concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays, as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay,” a spokesperson said. “As more information becomes available, the department will closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan, as well as all other pertinent DOT rules.”

Southwest to Operate Only "One Third" of Scheduled Flights For "Next Several Days"

In a statement to NBC 5 Monday, a Southwest spokesperson said "We are not having staffing issues, but we had experienced problems connecting flight crews to their scheduled aircraft. It is a scheduling issue, not a staffing issue."

Shortly after that statement to NBC 5, the airlineissued a public apology, saying it recognized it had fallen short.

"Our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning," the airline said in a release. "We’re working with safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us. We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity."

"This safety-first work is intentional, ongoing, and necessary to return to normal reliability, one that minimizes last-minute inconveniences," the statement continued. "As we continue the work to recover our operation, we have made the decision to continue operating a reduced schedule by flying roughly one third of our schedule for the next several days."

The statement goes on to say that they are "working to reach Customers whose travel plans will change to offer specific information and available options, also available atSouthwest.com/traveldisruption."

"On the other side of this, we’ll work to make things right for those we’ve let down, including our Employees," the statement concludes. "We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize."

According to Southwest Airlines' website, "Customers holding any Southwest reservation from Sunday, December 25 through Monday,January 2,may rebook in the original class of service or travel standby (within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city-pairs and in accordance with our accommodation procedures) without paying any additional charge."

A Sea of Luggage, Long Customer Service Lines and Conflicting Flight Notifications Plague Chicago Travelers

Hours-long lines at the Southwest customer desk wrapped around parts the airport Monday, and a sea of luggage from canceled flights continues to take over much of the baggage claim area.

And with nearby hotels and car rentals all booked up, many travelers had to spend the night on the floor at Midway Airport -- again.

"Going on day two, and I'm more frustrated than anything," one traveler told NBC 5. "My family of four ended up spending the night on the floor at Midway Airport.

"They have no flights out until after the New Year, in 2023," traveler Earl Lane told NBC 5 Tuesday. "So now I have to go to try and find a ticket on a different airline."

According to Lane, the ticket difference is upwards of $500.

Video footage shows a massive line at Midway Airport as travelers wait for flights amid more than 100 cancellations as the post-holiday rush begins.

“I was at the gate, checked my luggage and everything. It said my flight was delayed twice, then it was canceled,” traveler April Holmes said.

Wendy Dimitri, another Southwest traveler at Midway said she didn’t get any notifications about her flights.

“We didn’t get a notification, no text message, nothing,” she said. “We came up from northwest Indiana to catch our flight. My husband went to the Loop to get a car, and he’s coming back to get us so we can drive to Charlotte.”

Attempting to rebook flights or get out of town isn't the only problem Southwest passengers are facing. Photos and video from social media show dozens and dozens of airline-tagged bags piling up at Midway Airport's baggage claim area.

“At first we were told that our bags would be down here, so we went and searched the whole area. My bag is kind of distinctive, and I can’t find it,” traveler Dori Velligan said.

Terry Velligan says that the family was planning to head to New Orleans, but instead they’ve had to spend hours just trying to track down their luggage.

“We took off work to go to New Orleans, and so now we are here spending all our vacation looking for our bags,” he said.

Chicago resident Mark Buckley told a similar story. His daughter was delayed a day in arriving in Chicago last week, but her bags didn’t get there at the same time.

In fact, Buckley says that the airline told the family that her bags were in Denver, but they were actually inside Midway Airport.

Ultimately, it was an Apple air tag inside of the bag that enabled the family to find it.