Southwest Airlines: Thousands in US left stranded by flight cancellations in wake of Storm Elliott

The United States federal government has launched an investigation after thousands of airline passengers were left stranded and searching desperately for their bags following Storm Elliott's chaos.

Southwest Airlines is being probed after axing thousands of flights in the aftermath of the massive winter storm that wrecked Christmas travel plans across the US, and killed at least 60 people.

The federal government said it would investigate why the company was lagging so far behind other carriers.

Frustrated travellers posted on social media about lost bags, hours-long waits at airports and in helpline holding queues, and accused other airlines of price-gouging as demand surged for replacement flights.

A day after most US airlines had recovered from the storm, Southwest called off about 2,600 more flights on the East Coast by late afternoon.

Those flights accounted for more than 80% of the 3,000 trips that were cancelled nationwide, according to tracking service FlightAware.

The airline also scrubbed 2,500 flights for Wednesday and nearly 1,400 for Thursday as it tried to restore order to its mangled schedule.

US President Joe Biden said his administration was working to hold airlines "accountable" for the disruption.

At airports with major Southwest operations, customers stood in long lines hoping to find a seat on another flight. They described waiting hours on hold for help, only to be cut off.

Some tried to rent cars to get to their destinations sooner. Others found spots to sleep on the floor. Luggage piled up in huge heaps.

Conrad Stoll, a 66-year-old retired construction worker in Missouri, planned to fly from Kansas City to Los Angeles for his father’s 90th birthday party until his Southwest flight was cancelled. He said he won't get to see his 88-year-old mother either.

“I went there in 2019, and she looked at me and said, ‘I’m not going to see you again.’" Stoll said. “My sister has been taking care of them, and she’s just like, ‘They’re really losing it really quick.’”

Stoll hopes to get another chance to see his parents in the spring, when the weather is warmer.

In a video posted by Southwest late on Tuesday, CEO Robert Jordan said Southwest would operate a reduced schedule for several days but hoped to be "back on track before next week.”

Jordan blamed the winter storm for snarling the airline’s “highly complex” network.

He said Southwest's tools for recovering from disruptions work “99% of the time, but clearly we need to double down" on upgrading systems to avoid a repeat of this week.

“We have some real work to do in making this right,” said Jordan, a 34-year Southwest veteran who became CEO in February. “For now, I want you to know that we are committed to that.”

The problems began over the weekend and snowballed on Monday, when Southwest called off more than 70% of its flights.

That was after the worst of the storm had passed. The airline said many pilots and flight attendants were out of position to work their flights.

Leaders of unions representing Southwest pilots and flight attendants blamed antiquated crew-scheduling software and criticised company management.

Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said the airline failed to fix problems that caused a similar meltdown in October 2021.

“There is a lot of frustration because this is so preventable,” Murray said. “The airline cannot connect crews to airplanes. The airline didn't even know where pilots were at."

Murray said managers resorted this week to asking pilots at some airports to report to a central location, where they wrote down the names of pilots who were present and forwarded the lists to headquarters.

Lyn Montgomery, president of the Transport Workers Union representing Southwest flight attendants, said she and other labour leaders have repeatedly told management that the airline's scheduling technology is not good enough.

“This has been something we have seen coming,” she said. “This is a very catastrophic event.”

The airline is now drawing unwanted attention from Washington.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has criticised airlines for previous disruptions, said his agency would examine the causes of Southwest's widespread cancellations and whether the airline was meeting its legal obligations to stranded customers.

“While we all understand that you can't control the weather, this has clearly crossed the line from what is an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the airline's direct responsibility,” Buttigieg told NBC Nightly News.

He said Southwest should at least pay cash refunds for cancelled flights and cover stranded passengers' hotel and meal costs.

In Congress, the Senate Commerce Committee also promised an investigation. Two Senate Democrats called on Southwest to provide “significant” compensation for stranded travellers, saying that the airline has the money because it plans to pay $428 million in dividends next month.

The size and severity of the storm created havoc for many airlines, although the largest number of cancelled flights on Tuesday were at airports where Southwest is a major carrier, including Denver, Chicago Midway, Las Vegas, Baltimore and Dallas.

Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines both cancelled about 10% of their flights, with much smaller cancellation percentages at American, Delta, United and JetBlue.

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