Southwest says it plans to restore a normal flight schedule on Friday

Southwest Airlines, which has been caught in the midst of an annoying tangle of misplaced employees and technical problems since last week’s winter storm, said it plans to return to normal operations on Friday with “minimum disruptions.”

The company’s collapse stranded thousands of travelers, stunned employees and put company executives on the defensive. It could also cause long-term damage to Southwest’s reputation.

more than 2,300 Southwest flights were canceled Thursday, or about 58 percent of flights that were scheduled for the day. As of Thursday afternoon, the airline had canceled just 39 flights scheduled for Friday, unlike previous days when it canceled thousands of flights a day ahead of schedule, according to the FlightAware, Flight tracking service.

“We know even our deepest apologies – to our customers, our employees and everyone affected by this disruption – just go so far,” The company said in a statement Thursday.

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The company’s troubles began with a severe winter storm that disrupted every airline on the busy travel days before Christmas. But Southwest relied on a different organizational structure than most other airlines, which made it difficult to recover from disruptions, and it ran into technical problems in its complex scheduling system. (Read more about why and how the chaos happened.)

In an interview on “Good Morning America” ​​on Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said of Southwest, “We’re past the point where they can say this is a weather-driven issue.”

He added: “What this indicates is a failure in the system, and they need to make sure that those stranded passengers get to where they need to go and that they are adequately compensated.”

David A. Ball, president of The Ball Consulting Group, the company’s crisis management firm, said Southwest will now have to engage in a long campaign to win back the confidence of travelers, employees and government officials.

“When the Secretary of Transportation is on network TV and says your company is in meltdown, that’s pretty much the definition of crisis,” Ball said.

He added that the disruptions to Southwest’s service required a “multi-year rebranding effort,” including a close look at “every aspect of its brand and business.”

And while officials scrambled to restore normal operations, customers stayed away from home frustrated by the lack of progress or the ability to contact customer service for help. Some have had to spend more than $1,000 on tickets on other airlines or to rent cars for road trips across the country.

Alaina Voccio, a high school teacher in Santa Monica, California, and her 17-year-old son have been stranded in Denver since last Friday after Southwest canceled their flight to Los Angeles.

Her relief at hearing that Southwest expected its operations to return to normal on Friday was dreaded by the headaches she had already experienced — a Christmas celebration with her daughter, the missing flight to Florida, the hundreds of dollars spent on hotel rooms and meals.

said the lady. Fuccio, who was due to take the return flight on Friday morning. Given that she’s never had any issues with Southwest before, Ms. Voccio said she would likely travel to the Southwest again if she adequately reimbursed the expenses she and other travelers had incurred over the past week.

“I’m 46, I’ve been flying since I was 21, things happen.” Fuccio said. “I think if they took some cheap hard line, it would ruin my life.”

For Elsie Benitez and her husband, coming home at Christmas has been forbidden by a relentless series of missteps.

After arriving at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington on Saturday to fly home to Orlando, Florida, they learned their flight had been canceled due to a staff shortage. They were rebooked for a flight departing from Baltimore, about an hour’s drive away, for the next morning, Christmas Day.

When they arrived at Baltimore Airport, the flight was repeatedly delayed. After an eight hour delay, it was cancelled.

“We spent all Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the airport,” said the lady. Benitez, 57, works as a real estate agent. “What a nightmare.”

The couple obtained vouchers from Southwest to stay in a hotel that night, and booked online from Baltimore Airport a rental car they planned to fly back to Orlando. But when they went to pick up the car, it wasn’t available. In the end, Miss. Benitez’s brother, who they were visiting in Virginia, found a rental car there, picked them up in Baltimore and dropped them off at the Virginia rental agency.

Ms. She added that Benitez and her husband drove 12 hours to Orlando and arrived home on Tuesday, finally opening their Christmas presents. She said Southwest “gave us vouchers, but that doesn’t make up for lost time, joy, or Christmas spirit.”

Despite the chaos of the past few days, Jason Mudd, CEO of Axia Public Relations, which has been helping businesses, said Southwest can get back to normal, in part because it has generated so much goodwill among loyal customers over its storied history. for five decades. Having crises but not having Southwest as a client.

“Usually we hear about another airline or another brand in the industry experiencing very severe delays and cancellations,” Mudd said. “Southwest tends to be pretty reliable, or at least has a reputation for being very reliable and very efficient on time.”

Southwest’s share price rose about 4 percent Thursday afternoon after the company’s announcement.