Southwest Airlines could be operating at normal levels by the weekend after days of widespread cancellations, Chicago Department of Aviation officials said Wednesday evening, citing discussions with Southwest leadership.
The carrier had previously said it would operate about one-third of its schedule for “several days” in an attempt to catch up, after a meltdown that left thousands of flights canceled, travelers stranded and crews and planes out of place.
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Southwest canceled more than 2,500 flights systemwide Wednesday, including 231 at Midway Airport and 37 at O’Hare International Airport. The Dallas-based airline had more than 200 additional cancellations planned for Thursday at the two Chicago airports, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
The carrier had increased its operations overall by about 20% in the previous two days, CDA officials said in a statement.
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Southwest told CDA it would fully refund flights canceled since Dec. 24, the agency said. For every cancellation or significant delay between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2, the carrier would reimburse “reasonable” expenses for items such as meals, hotels, rental cars or tickets on another airline, according to CDA and a page on the Southwest website.
The cancellations left piles of luggage at Midway, as would-be travelers struggled to be reunited with checked bags. CDA said Southwest told the agency all suitcases stored at the Midway baggage claim would be removed and secured by the end of Wednesday, then would continue on to their final destinations.
The aviation department sent extra security from O’Hare to Midway to make sure baggage claim remained secure 24 hours a day, the department said.
The cancellations left scenes of chaos at Midway in recent days, as travelers struggled to find alternate transportation and waited in long lines to try to claim their bags.
The pilot’s union has attributed the problems in part to scheduling technology that couldn’t keep up with the airline’s complex flight network once weather-related cancellations from a Christmas-weekend winter storm started rolling in.
CEO Bob Jordan apologized in a video posted online Tuesday, and said the airline’s tools mostly work but “clearly we need to double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what’s happening right now.”
sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
