Southwest cancels another 2,500 flights Wednesday, experts say airline unlikely to raise airfare cost

HOUSTON - Southwest canceled another 2,500 flights nationwide on Wednesday, as the Texas-based airline works to fix its system meltdown. Approximately 180 of those were in Houston. 

The cancellations and delays began December 22 when severe winter weather swept across the U.S. Since then, approximately 11,000 Southwest flights nationwide have been canceled, according to Flight Aware. 

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In a nearly three-minute video posted to Southwest Airlines Twitter, CEO Bob Jordan apologized to customers and said the company is committed to fixing their mistakes. 

"Our plan for the next few days is to fly a reduced schedule and reposition our people and planes. We’re making headway. And we’re optimistic to be back on track before next week," Jordan said.  

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said his department intends to hold Southwest accountable for this unprecedented meltdown and ensure travelers are properly compensated.   

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Long-time customers, like Tracy Griffin, says Southwest ruined their family’s Christmas holiday and forced them to spend thousands of extra dollars on unexpected travel expenses.  

"My son is just leaving today. He was supposed to leave yesterday. It’s been a nightmare," said Griffin. 

"The fact that they’re still canceling flights is unacceptable, because if you sell flights to customers, you need to honor that. At this point, you do owe people travel vouchers. If you want to make people feel good about supporting your brand, offer travel vouchers and do right next time," Griffin continued.

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Founder and chief flight expert of Scott’s Cheap Flights, Scott Keyes, said while weather may have sparked the initial delays, the issues now are being caused by internal errors. 

"They should have been investing in updating their crew scheduling technology years ago, not letting it break, and then trying to fix the problem," Keyes said. 

Keyes believes Southwest at a minimum, should reimburse customers for out-of-pocket costs. In order to keep customers coming back, Keyes believes more changes need to be made.  

"Everything from meals, taxis, you know, expensive last minute flights, getting put up in hotels. I'd like to see compensation for all those travelers and families who had to sleep overnight in airports," Keyes said. 

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"Southwest Airlines is one of the few airlines that does not have what's called an interline agreement with other airlines. These are agreements that most of the main U.S. airlines have: Delta, United, American, Alaska; when there are these types of cancelations happen, they agree to be able to put their travelers on each other's empty seats to make sure that travelers aren't overly impacted. Southwest does not book travelers on to other airlines when flights get canceled. I think that ought to change," Keyes continued.   

Experts estimate it could cost Southwest Airlines ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ in reimbursements for travelers and employee to make up for this meltdown. 

"I think it's going to wind up being a pretty costly debacle for the airline, just as it's been for travelers. What that'll mean in terms of fares going forward. It's hard to say. If Southwest doubles their price or even raises it 15-20%, you're gonna see a ton of folks start traveling on other airlines. This ordeal may just end up hurting the bottom line and resulting in a less profitable quarter and year than they otherwise may have seen," Keyes said.