Giant piles of luggage have dwindled at Mitchell International Airport as Southwest Airlines promises a return to normal service
The giant piles of unclaimed baggage of Southwest Airlines passengers at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport has dwindled down, as the carrier slowly returns to normal in advance of New Years weekend.
Southwest continued to operate on a sharply reduced schedule on Thursday. A total of 30 Southwest flights, or 65%, from Milwaukee were cancelled and two were delayed.
Southwest said it planned to return to normal operations with minimal disruptions on Friday.
"We are encouraged by the progress we've made to realign crew, their schedules, and our fleet. With another holiday weekend full of important connections for our valued Customers and Employees, we are eager to return to a state of normalcy," the airline said in a statement.
"We know even our deepest apologies to our customers, to our employees, and to all affected through this disruption, only go so far... We have much work ahead of us, including investing in new solutions to manage wide-scale disruptions."
At Mitchell Thursday morning, some travelers were relieved that they were able to check in for their flight.
Kaitlyn Lund came to Wisconsin to visit family and was at the airport to fly to Tennessee to visit more family.
Lund enjoyed walking directly up to a kiosk and not having to wait in line.
"This was my flight the whole time," Lund said adding she feels lucky she missed much of the chaos that has gripped travelers the last several days. "I've never had an issue (with Southwest Airlines). So hopefully I don't have one yet."
Lund said she made a backup plan for friends to pick her up in case her flight was delayed or cancelled.
"I'd ride with my family home. So I had it planned out, pretty easy," Lund said.
During the last several days, many travelers stranded or waiting for flights generated an unanticipated boon in business for the Renaissance Book Shop.
"It's backhanded benefitting because peoples' flights get cancelled and they say 'Oh, I might as well buy a new book,'" said employee Timothy Evans-Strum. "We're the perfect bookstore for wandering because we're not well organized."
Evans-Strum said people have been polite and have enjoyed seeing what books they have to offer.
"Eventually you'll find what you're looking for, even if you didn't know you were looking for it," Evans-Strum said.
Southwest's troubles this week have drawn nationwide attention, and the airline has been strongly criticized by the Biden Administration. A federal investigation of its practices has been promised.
It is likely that more than 1 million passengers have been affected nationwide. Southwest has canceled more than 13,000 flights since its meltdown began on Dec. 22. Its planes have 143 to 175 seats and were likely nearly fully booked around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
About the only good news for Southwest passengers was that 98% of flights that took off Thursday managed to land within 15 minutes of schedule, meeting the government’s definition of an on-time arrival.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Piles of luggage are gone, Southwest promises return to normal service
