Family travels 21 hours from Texas to Los Angeles looking for stuck Southwest Airlines luggage

Amidst the sea of ​​baggage lining the wall in the baggage claim area of ​​the Southwest Airlines Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, every bag has a story behind it.

Grab a bright red bag that belongs to the Suzanne Kelly family of Texas. She arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday after a 21-hour trip with her son and husband after their southwest flight from Dallas was canceled earlier this week.

Kelly couldn’t fly to LA but their baggage did.

“They told us that despite our flight being cancelled, they were sending our luggage to Los Angeles,” Kelly said.

red bag sandwiched between others contains medication for her husband, who has just had a lung transplant.

“It’ll probably last until Saturday morning and then we have to get it or we’ll have to buy it again,” Kelly said, estimating the cost at about $300.

Kelly took the red bag, seven others and her family’s car seat on Wednesday evening. They have a similar history with other Southwest Airlines customers whose flights were canceled during the holidays, leaving travelers stranded in cities across the country.

Long lines greet travelers at airports on Wednesday in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties, people are looking for flights from other airlines.

Some turned to car rental companies for transportation to holiday destinations. Some waited for hours for help and slept on the floor at airports.

On Thursday, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,300 flights across the country.

A total of 100 inbound and outbound Southwest flights at Los Angeles International Airport had been canceled by Wednesday afternoon, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. Southwest accounts for the bulk of the 126 flight cancellations to and from the airport.

About 86%, or more than 2,500 of the fights canceled in the country on Wednesday, were with Southwest Airlines, according to FlightAware.

The airline was operating about one-third of its normal flight volume as it worked to reboot its systems and relocate its aircraft and flight crew, many of which were left out of position as weather and computer failures combined to disrupt Southwest’s operations. This has resulted in massive flight cancellations in and out of Southern California, leaving many passengers stranded, unable to reach their destination and often unable to even find their registered tickets. baggage.

Hollywood Burbank had cleared 82 inbound and outbound Southwest flights by noon Wednesday. Long Beach Airport had 61 cancellations to the southwest, and John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana had 93 cancellations to the southwest.

Stranded passengers are left with few alternatives: Southwest Airlines’ website lists all flights departing from Southern California airports as “unavailable” until Saturday.

The airline has apologized to travelers stranded on vacation, saying its operating problems stem from last week’s historic winter storm.

“With several consecutive days of extreme winter weather behind our network, ongoing issues are taking a severe toll on our customers and employees, which is unacceptable,” Southwest said in a statement. “We are working with safety first to urgently address wide-ranging disruptions by rebalancing the airline and relocating crews and our fleet to ultimately best serve everyone who plans to travel with us.

“And our heartfelt apologies for that are just beginning.”

In a video posted online Tuesday afternoon, Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said the rhythm would continue throughout the week as he worked to move his crews and planes.

“We are doing everything we can to get back to normal operations,” he said. “We always care about our customers, and we will do our best to ensure that they expect from us.”

“Our plan for the next few days is to fly on a reduced schedule and move our people and planes and we are making progress and we are optimistic about getting back on track before next week. that’s right.”

Jordan again blamed the “intense cold” for the problems, but also acknowledged that the airline needed to improve its scheduling systems “so that we never have to deal with what’s happening right now again.”

US Department of Transportation officials issued a statement calling the situation in the southwest “unacceptable.”

“USDOT is concerned about Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays, as well as reports of a lack of responsive customer service,” the department said. “The department will review whether the cancellations were manageable and whether Southwest is following its customer service plan.”

Jordan said in his video that he contacted U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to discuss the steps the airline was taking to fix the issues.

Southwest Airlines said. it was fully staffed late last week and gearing up for the upcoming Christmas weekend, when severe weather swept across the continent.

“On the other hand, we will work to make things right for those we have let down, including our employees,” the airline said.

Affected travelers can find more information here.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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