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Colorado1996 t1_j1ub32g wrote

There was an r/outoftheloop thread that had some good information:

> Quote in case the post gets removed/edited:

> On behalf of all employees: WE ARE SORRY! I will give it to you straight- this meltdown was caused entirely by Southwest. It was triggered by the storm, but the failure to recover quickly is on Southwest 100%. If you are still hearing “weather” almost a week after the storm, it’s not true. > Couple main points: > 1. ⁠Please be patient with us. We desperately want to do everything we can to get you where you’re going. > 2. ⁠This shitstorm is because the crew scheduling software went belly up and it almost all has to be unraveled over the phone with crew members calling scheduling. If we had better technology which eliminated the need for phone calls, this would have been fixed by now. > 3. ⁠If you are able to find alternative transportation to your final destination- DO IT. Another airline, bus, train, Lyft, rental car, ANYTHING. Southwest WILL NOT be able to get you to your destination anytime in the next few days. > 4. ⁠Like I said, it’s gonna take at least a week to get back to normal operations for Southwest. If anyone has questions, I will try to answer them. I work ground ops at one of SWA’s hubs. > EDIT FOR FAQs——

> 1. ⁠Checked bags are currently a disaster. Plan to not see your checked luggage for at least a month. In the interest of 100% transparency, some bags will be 30+ days lost in the system.

> 2. Will my flight for X date go out? Next 3 days- plan on a cancellation. 4-7 days- likely to go as scheduled. 7+ days- should see operational recovery.

My own edit: I think this was tweeted Monday, so the 3 day cancelations likely refer to Dec 27-29, but again this is only one persons expectation

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pk10534 t1_j1upav0 wrote

Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for the flight attendants and customer service agents who have to deal with the chaos, as well as all the passengers enduring this. I hope the FAA is able to fine the shit out of SW for this. And they really need to stop blaming this on the storm anymore

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RevRagnarok t1_j1uvjff wrote

Damn I'm gonna paste that to a FB friend who's currently stuck in Hawaii (and not in a good way).

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aoife_too t1_j1usbbx wrote

Thank you for sharing this. I had heard some systems went down, but they weren’t telling customers. Seems like the cat might be out of the bag at this point, though…

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ParticularAsk6193 t1_j1vuyob wrote

Supposed to fly from OKC to San Diego via Denver Jan 4th. I will need to check a bag. Is it too soon to say if I should rebook with another airline that isn’t Southwest? I know you mention it’s likely to go out as scheduled but is there a chance of anymore meltdowns in the near term?

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Colorado1996 t1_j1w4xly wrote

Ya I thought the same. Supposed to fly in Thursday with southwest, but the next open seat on another airline isn’t until Saturday for an insane price. Think I’m going to just stick to the original flight and hope for the best

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ParticularAsk6193 t1_j1w5b7g wrote

Yeah, it’s not looking like Southwest will let you cancel for a refund at this point, only flight credit or change the flight. Considering flying out a different airline and keeping my return flight on Southwest. May give it a day or two to see how things shake out.

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Shiny_Deleter t1_j1w7lvn wrote

They should totally issue refunds to save face and to help themselves get out of this hole.

Obviously I’m preaching to the choir, and we know how reluctant they are to hand any money back.

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