Southwest Airlines CEO Says Cancellations 'Giant Puzzle' Amid Investigation

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan has said he is "truly sorry" for the chaos that has engulfed the airline, resulting in the cancellation of thousands of flights across the United States, claiming the company is facing a "giant puzzle" due to aircraft and flight crews being out of position.

More than 2,500 Southwest Airlines flights were canceled by Tuesday, with the company announcing further cancellations for Wednesday and Thursday as it aims to get "back on track before next week."

The aviation industry has been badly hit by winter storm Elliott, which has killed at least 62 people across the U.S. since it began pounding much of the country with blizzards and freezing conditions late last week.

On Tuesday, Southwest Airlines posted a 2:42-minute video of Jordan discussing the situation on its official Twitter account.

Jordan said: "We're the largest airline in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S., cities where large numbers of scheduled flights simultaneously froze as record cold brought challenges for all airlines.

"Our network is highly complex and the operation of our airline counts on all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews remaining in motion, to where they're planned to go.

"With our large fleet of airplanes and flight crews out of position in dozens of locations, and after days of trying to operate as much of our full schedule across the busy holiday weekend, we reached a decision point to significantly reduce our flying to catch up."

The CEO said Southwest Airlines will be running a "reduced schedule" over the next few days and is "proactively reaching out" to customers who are dealing with "costly detours and reroutes."

However, a number of customers replied to say they still can't get hold of the airline.

"'We are actively reaching out to' is a stretch considering I've reached out on multiple channels and have still gotten no response back about my flight that was canceled," Twitter user Drew Bryant wrote.

"I've tried calling and emailing and dm on Twitter. Radio silence over the past 48+hours," one person commented.

"Thanks for cutting the time I get to see my kids short, costing us over $1000 to book flights with American to get them back home and sticking them with the uncertainty of when they will be willing to use southwest again to use the credit you gave versus a refund," said another Twitter user.

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines told Newsweek how customers can request refunds or find missing luggage:

"We plan to operate a reduced schedule by flying roughly one-third of our schedule for the next several days. The latest information, including a video from our CEO Bob Jordan is available on SWAMedia.com," they said.

"We implemented a site where Customers can contact Southwest to rebook or request a refund: Southwest.com/traveldisruption, and Teams are finalizing a resource to assist Customers with reuniting with lost or missing baggage.

"Additionally, our Travel Advisory is still in effect to offer Customers maximum flexibility with rebooking. The Southwest Team is working to accommodate Customers on available flights as soon as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience to our Customers."

On Tuesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a federal investigation into the problems at Southwest Airlines.

Appearing on NBC Nightly News he said: "While we all understand that you can't control the weather, this has clearly crossed the line from what is an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the airline's direct responsibility."

Speaking to CNN yesterday, Captain Mike Santoro, vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said the chaos should have been foreseen.

"We have been telling them this for years. This is the largest disruption I've seen in my 16 years at the airline. It's embarrassing," Santoro said.

Across western New York state 28 people are confirmed to have died due to the storm, with some people trapped in their vehicles under up to five feet of snow.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia warned that there are "more bodies to be discovered" as rescue efforts continue.

Update 12/28/22, 8:38 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Southwest Airlines.