Southwest Airlines cancels 70% of flights for 'next several days'

Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Southwest Airlines will cancel nearly 70% of its flights "for the next several days," as the airline works to recover from severe winter weather and staffing shortages that left tens of thousands of passengers and luggage stranded during the busy holiday weekend.

Southwest accounted for 86% of all domestic flights canceled on Tuesday, as the airline blamed technology problems with tools that create employee schedules.

Southwest's canceled flights for Wednesday already account for nearly 99% of all announced canceled domestic flights, though other airlines likely will cancel some flights, as well.

"This is the worst round of cancellations for any single airline I can recall in a career of more than 20 years as an industry analyst," Henry Harteveldt, who covers airlines for Atmosphere Research Group, told The New York Times.

While other airlines managed to rebook passengers, Southwest's ongoing cancelations and inability to recover this week from the historic winter storm drew the attention of the Biden administration, which plans to investigate.

"Thousands of flights nationwide have been canceled around the holidays. Our administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable," President Joe Biden tweeted on Tuesday, while referring stranded passengers to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

According to the flight-tracking website FlightAware, Southwest had canceled 64% of its flights on Tuesday, totaling 2,610. On Monday, the airline canceled 2,909 flights, stranding passengers from around the country.

In addition to stranded passengers, many Southwest Airlines travelers who checked their luggage with the airline, could not locate their bags or waited for hours in long lines to retrieve their belongings.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said the committee will look into the causes of the "disruptions and its impact to consumers," which greatly exceeded those of other airlines.

"The problems at Southwest Airlines over the last several days go beyond weather," Cantwell tweeted on Tuesday. "Many airlines fail to adequately communicate with consumers during flight cancellations. Consumers deserve strong protections, including an updated consumer refund rule."

"USDOT is concerned by Southwest's unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service," the Department of Transportation, which also plans to investigate, tweeted Monday. "The department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan."

Southwest said the winter storm and staff issues drove the high rate of cancellations.

"With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a significant way that is unacceptable," Southwest said in a statement Monday. "And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.

"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."

On Tuesday, Southwest said its tools that match flight attendants with flights were still "struggling" after the storm.

One flight attendant said flight crews have had to be notified manually about flight changes that required them to wait on hold for hours, and that was due to outdated technology.

"All of these issues are compounding on one another," said Lyn Montgomery, president of TWU Local 556, which represents 18,000 Southwest flight attendants.

Southwest said it operates in 23 of the 25 largest U.S. travel markets, so the weather affected it more than any other airline by forcing operational and flight challenges.

"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 airline said.

"We're working to reach customers whose travel plans will change to offer specific information and available options."

Southwest representative Chris Perry told CBS News that "abnormally high" traffic to its online booking site and check-in systems have slowed rebooking, but union officials said the airline had long neglected to install available technology that would prevent such snarls.

"The lack of technology has left the airline relying on manual solutions and personal phone calls, leaving flight attendants on hold with Southwest Airlines for up to 17 hours at a time simply to be released to go home after their trip, or while attempting to secure a hotel room or know where their next trip will be," the flight attendants union, Transit Workers Union No. 556, said in a statement.