Unclaimed luggage piles up at airports following Southwest cancellations
Southwest Airlines abruptly canceled thousands of Christmas flights due to a winter storm. Many of the hundreds of thousands of stranded or delayed customers
Airlines anticipated a turbulent travel season with turnout akin to pre-pandemic airports. Winter storms across the country caused every major airline to cancel or delay flights.
Southwest Airlines was hit hard. A blizzard forced the business to cancel 60% of its flights, stranding hundreds of thousands.
Whether they reached their destination or spent the holidays at home, many passengers seem to be still looking for their bags.
"I've never seen a meltdown of this size, it's the worst I think we've ever seen," said American Economic Liberties Project Aviation and Travel senior fellow William J. McGee.
Since 1985, McGee has studied the airline sector. He dubbed Southwest's widespread flight cancellations "unprecedented."
"No relief in sight," he said. "It's impossible to guess when things are getting back to normal."
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan apologized to customers Tuesday. Jordan claimed the airline canceled flights
"after days of trying to operate as much of our full schedule across the busy holiday weekend," and he called DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Wedding couple Bri Murphy and Peter Ferguson planned to fly from Nashville to Denver on Christmas Day.