![]() Retaining loyal customers is crucial if Southwest is to limit the financial damage of the meltdown. “Book-away typically has a short half-life, perhaps as little as a month, given it appears from many accounts that Southwest is being very generous reimbursing not only flight but other out-of-pocket costs” and is serious about fixing the technological shortcomings that made the crisis worse, said Robert Mann, an airline consultant in New York. Southwest hopes that refunds, reimbursements and loyalty points will persuade people not to switch to other airlines, known in the industry as “booking away.” She said she plans to go back to flying on American Airlines even if it costs more. It’s just not worth the hassle that I went through,” Zanin said. “It would take a lot for the airline to prove to me that they can fix whatever technology they use to get flight crews and planes where they need to go. Even if she eventually gets the money, it may not be enough for her to try Southwest again. 2, and seems to be making progress on refunds, but executives concede it will take many weeks to process the reimbursement requests.Īfter a week of cancelations and delays, Southwest Airlines are resuming normal operations.ĭanielle Zanin is still waiting to hear whether Southwest will cover the $1,995.36 that she spent during a four-day odyssey getting her family of four home to Illinois after their flight was canceled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Southwest is giving 25,000 frequent-flyer points to customers whose flights were canceled or significantly delayed between Dec. He expressed optimism but offered few specifics about avoiding a repeat meltdown. Jordan said in a brief interview that Southwest is still studying what went wrong, and he doesn’t want to make changes in technology until that review is done. It took the airline eight days to recover. 22 with a winter storm, and snowballed when Southwest’s ancient crew-scheduling technology was overwhelmed, leaving crews and planes out of position to operate flights. ![]() The airline has also returned most lost bags to their owners, and hired an outside firm to sift through requests for reimbursement of things like hotels and meals that stranded passengers paid out of their own pockets, he said. With its flights running on a roughly normal schedule, Southwest Airlines is now turning its attention to repairing its damaged reputation after it canceled 15,000 flights around Christmas and left holiday travelers stranded.ĬEO Robert Jordan said Thursday that Southwest has processed about 75% of the refund requests it has received. ![]()
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