Several of South West AirlinesCompetitors will impose price caps on travel to help thousands of passengers stranded by the budget carrier’s mass flight cancellations this week. This news comes as the beleaguered airline said it will operate a third of its schedule on Thursday December 29 but plans to “return to normal operation with minimal disruption on Friday” December 30.
American airlines and United put in place an airfare cap between certain cities, according to CNN. Delta has implemented “walk-in fare caps in U.S. domestic markets,” a carrier spokesperson said to Axios.
Alaska Airlines, which told Axios it already has price caps in place, will also cut fares in some cities. Frontier Airlines reportedly said it had limited its highest fares to “pre-disruption levels”. Spirit, meanwhile, was waving “modification changes or fare differences” between dozens of cities through Jan. 3, the outlet said.
Southwest cut 2,357 flights on Thursday, far eclipsing any other carrier, data from Flightaware.com says. On Wednesday, Southwest cancellations reached 2,510. Federal authorities said they would investigate the transit collapse.
Southwest’s descent into logistical chaos began on Thursday, December 22. While many airlines saw cancellations due to a historic winter storm that brought blizzard-like conditions to much of the United States, Southwest canceled many flights in areas such as southern California who were not shocked by the weather.
Cancellations swept away thousands of flyers over the holiday weekend and into this week, with no clear path home. There were numerous tales of hours-long queues, days-long delays, overflowing baggage claims and tearful southwestern agents who were struggling with live customers.
Southwest’s rebooking policy made the lot worse for the company’s customers. The airline does not book passengers on competing airlines, according to CNN.
Because Southwest does not have agreements with other carriers that would allow rebooking to competing airlines, this limits customers’ options. “Southwest is unique in the industry in that we don’t have codeshare partners,” a Southwest spokesperson told CNN. “It’s part of our business model.”
“I’m so sorry,” Southwest general manager Bob Jordan said. said in a video on Tuesday. Hed blamed the cancellations on cold temperatures across the United States, saying they were affecting flight paths. “[A]after days of trying to fit most of our full schedule over the busy holiday weekend, we have reached a decision point to drastically reduce our flights to catch up.
Asked to comment on rivals’ moves, Southwest told the Guardian in an email this morning: “We cannot comment on other airlines.”
“We continue to operate a reduced schedule flying about a third of our schedule through Thursday from now on. We have no updates or adjustments to share regarding Friday’s schedule,” the company said. “Our teams are continuing the work of reuniting customers with their bags.”
Southwest said it “has put in place this additional resource” to help customers with web pages to locate luggage and where they can contact Southwest for rebook or request a refund.
The airline company said later Thursday that although Southwest would be operating about a third of its schedule on Thursday, December 29 and that “we expect to resume normal operations with minimal disruption on Friday, December 29.” 30. “
the United States Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, said the federal transportation agency would investigate Southwest’s mass cancellations and determine whether it was meeting its legal obligations to affected customers. Buttigieg said Southwest should at a minimum provide cash refunds for canceled flights, as well as pay for passenger accommodations and food.
“While we all understand that you can’t control the weather, this clearly crossed the line between what is an out-of-control weather situation and something that is the direct responsibility of the airline,” Buttigieg said on NBC recently. Nightly News.
US Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell also pledged to investigate. Two of Cantwell’s fellow Democratic senators and trade committee members also required that Southwest is providing “meaningful” compensation to stranded customers, insisting the carrier is capable, if its $428 million dividend payout plans in January are any indication.
As the pandemonium in Southwest caused widespread misery, some stranded passengers managed to find a way home together. Unlucky travelers – strangers to each other – huddled together road trips rather than waiting for the airline.
Bridget Schuster, one of these road-trippers, took to TikTok and documented his journey from Florida in Ohio with three other passengers, all initially foreigners.
“No serial killer vibe so far,” Schuster joked.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
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