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A Southwest Airways jetliner approaches Denver Worldwide Airport on Could 26. The airline has spent months getting ready for the vacation journey season after a meltdown final December that left hundreds stranded.
David Zalubowski/AP
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David Zalubowski/AP
A Southwest Airways jetliner approaches Denver Worldwide Airport on Could 26. The airline has spent months getting ready for the vacation journey season after a meltdown final December that left hundreds stranded.
David Zalubowski/AP
For Emily Cornelius, final December was not one to recollect.
The Denver resident was flying residence on Christmas Eve after visiting household in Richmond, Va., when she landed in Chicago for a layover.
Her Southwest Airways flight was canceled, so she left the airport and spent the night time with a good friend. Finally, she was in a position to rebook for the day after Christmas, however when she arrived on the airport she confronted a string of delays earlier than Southwest cancelled her flight for a second time.
Like numerous different Southwest clients late final yr, Cornelius discovered herself caught within the terminal — her flights canceled, her checked bag misplaced and her prospects for getting residence dim.
“The vibes weren’t good,” Cornelius mentioned. “We both felt trapped within the airport or we’re spending cash that we do not know if we’ll get again on choices to be exterior of the airport.”
She finally took a Greyhound bus again to Denver and arrived on Dec. 29 — 5 days after she was initially scheduled to get residence.
Vacationers wade via the road for service on the Southwest Airways check-in counter in Denver Worldwide Airport on Dec. 27, 2022. Over a 10-day interval final December, the airline cancelled greater than 16,000 flights.
David Zalubowski/AP
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David Zalubowski/AP
Practically one yr later, Southwest is hoping for a do-over from final yr’s vacation meltdown, when a mixture of utmost winter climate and a cascading set of technical issues led the airline to cancel 16,700 flights over a 10-day interval in December.
Many would-be fliers had been unable to rebook their flights or hire a automotive. Baggage claims overflowed. Customer support hotlines clogged up. The debacle price Southwest a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands in misplaced income, prompted scrutiny from congressional investigators and led once-loyal clients to swear off the airline as soon as and for all.
However this yr, the airline says it is invested in new climate gear and upgraded its know-how forward of the vacation rush in a bid to reassure clients and keep away from a repeat of final yr’s efficiency.
“The disruption we had final winter was actually onerous on our clients and our staff. It weighs closely on all of us right here at Southwest Airways,” the service’s chief working officer, Andrew Watterson, mentioned throughout an October earnings call with buyers.
“We at the moment are so a lot better ready for these excessive climate occasions,” he mentioned.
How Southwest is making an attempt to recuperate
A lot of the U.S. was hit with a damaging blizzard in December that snarled operations for a number of airways, together with Southwest.
However what might have been a short hiccup for the airline became a serious disaster due, partly, to outdated pc methods and different technical setbacks.
Southwest estimates the fiasco price it as a lot as $825 million in working bills and reimbursements and acknowledged that it noticed a dip in bookings in January and February. The corporate additionally said in a regulatory filing final month that it could face a wonderful from the Division of Transportation after it decided that the airline “failed to offer satisfactory customer support help, immediate flight standing notifications, and correct and immediate refunds.”
Since final yr, nonetheless, Southwest officers say they’ve put cash into technological upgrades and de-icing enhancements to raised put together their operation to deal with logistical snags posed by extreme climate.
A girl walks via unclaimed baggage at Southwest Airways baggage declare at Salt Lake Metropolis Worldwide Airport on Dec. 29, 2022.
Rick Bowmer/AP
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Rick Bowmer/AP
Amongst the efforts Southwest undertook for the reason that meltdown was a giant push to arrange for snow and ice. The service purchased extra deicing vans and different floor gear, and elevated employees at airports in colder climates.
As of October 1, Southwest says it is employed about 12,800 new staff thus far this yr, together with greater than 60 crew schedulers.
The airline additionally says it is higher ready to reply to staffing points throughout disaster conditions. One of many issues throughout final yr’s disruption was that crew schedulers utilizing handbook processes could not sustain with the deluge of cancellations, however Southwest says it has upgraded its crew-assigning software program and streamlined inside communications.
Clint Henderson, managing editor on the journey web site The Factors Man, says the Dallas-based airline is hoping it is ready to beat one other good storm just like the one it skilled final yr.
“They’re making a number of strikes to attempt to get forward of this for Christmas,” Henderson mentioned. “I am simply undecided all the things’s going to be in place if there is a large meltdown like there was final yr.”
Southwest took a reputational hit, however clients are again
Those that swore off Southwest Airways after final December could also be discovering that it is not really easy one yr later.
One Southwest official mentioned on the October earnings name that the airline had the next proportion of seats booked for this December’s vacation interval than that they had on the similar level final yr, suggesting clients weren’t fleeing within the wake of final yr’s meltdown.
“Fact be advised, customers have brief reminiscences for these items,” Henderson mentioned. “Shoppers are actually worth acutely aware greater than they’re kind of reserving away from an airline over points that they’ve had prior to now.”
Although Emily Cornelius mentioned she is not touring for the vacations this yr, she has flown with Southwest since her ordeal.
The airline reimbursed her greater than $600 for resorts, meals and her bus ticket and gave her a $200 voucher when she initially rebooked her flight, which she used on one other Southwest ticket earlier this yr.
Cornelius mentioned it is too expensive for her to fly one other airline merely to protest her expertise with Southwest, even when she may wish to after what she and plenty of different clients endured final December.
“I do not suppose that they have been held accountable for not performing their due diligence earlier than this incident,” she mentioned. “You know the way many individuals are going to fly your airline. You took their cash. You discovered a seat for them. You know the way many individuals are coming. Why cannot your system deal with that?”
The vacation journey chaos precipitated Cornelius to lose out on an opportunity to carry out at a Denver comedy membership and miss 4 days of labor at her day job. Although she applauded the efforts of airport employees who she mentioned did their greatest through the chaos, the expertise soured her on the highest brass at Southwest, a service she’d all the time favored till then.
“I did not belief them as an organization,” she mentioned. “I felt actually upset on behalf of myself and everybody else that they promised issues to.”
I am reserving a flight for the vacations! What ought to I do?
Henderson, with The Factors Man, says when you do not wish to simply take an airline’s phrase for it that your flight can be on time, there are issues you are able to do to be sure to have a smoother journey this vacation season.
Verify the climate forward of your journey at your airport and the one you are flying to, in addition to the airport your airplane is scheduled to depart from earlier than reaching your location, he says.
Obtain the airline’s app in your smartphone to make any vital rebooking simpler, and have a backup plan in case you get stranded, similar to getting on standby for one more flight with a unique airline or flying out of a unique airport.
Additionally, it is best to e book your journey on a bank card that has delay and cancellation insurance coverage.
In case your flight is delayed, you may attempt to get a seat on one other airline, however be sure that the airline you obtain your authentic ticket from can pay for it. You are solely entitled to a refund if an airline cancels your flight and also you resolve to skip your journey.
Even if you cannot management the crowds or the airways, Henderson says you may take small steps forward of your journey to make sure you’re higher ready to take care of any curveballs.
“Shoppers should be their very own greatest advocates nowadays,” he mentioned, “as a result of typically — as we have seen final Christmas — the airways had been utterly overwhelmed.”
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