More cancellations plague Southwest Airlines flights at Austin airport

What was supposed to be a nostalgic week celebrating their first wedding anniversary in Las Vegas turned into a nightmare of canceled flights and lost luggage in Austin for Jacy Roffman and Nick Geinosky.

The couple were two among a long line of overwhelmed travelers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Tuesday morning, the queue of strangers all sharing the same question for Southwest Airlines: “Where is our luggage?”

“We were looking forward to Vegas for sure,” said Roffman, who explained that the couple planned to eat the top of their frozen wedding cake inside the same restaurant where they had said “I do” last year: “It’s really sad, but we’re actually so grateful this didn’t happen last year when we were flying to our wedding.”

Southwest Airlines on Tuesday continued to grapple with as many as 170 flight cancellations and delays for arrivals and departures through Austin. As of 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, about 76 arriving flights and 79 departures on Southwest were listed as canceled on the airport's online flight dashboard. By 1:45 p.m., that number grew to 100 arrivals and included 70 departing flights.

Southwest is Austin-Bergstrom's most popular carrier. From January to October, the most recent data period available, Southwest passengers made up about 6.7 million of the airport's total passenger volume of 17.5 million travelers.

Of the 2,890 flight cancellations across the country early Tuesday, 2,522 were called off by Southwest, according to the tracking website FlightAware, The Associated Press reported. The airline warned that it would operate just over a third of its usual schedule in the coming days to allow crews to get back to where they needed to be.

Southwest earlier this week released a statement that blamed the scheduling problems on the severe winter weather that has hampered travel across the Midwest and northeastern United States.

"We are re-accommodating as many customers as possible, based on available space, whose itineraries have been disrupted," the airline said. "Those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire."

Southwest passengers with lost luggage were told to go online for help at southwest.com/help/baggage/lost-damaged-baggage.

The airline also noted that a Southwest representative would be at the airport's baggage service office, but warned that they are "experiencing abnormally high call volumes."

"We are not having staffing issues, but we had experienced problems connecting flight crews to their scheduled aircraft. It is a scheduling issue, not a staffing issue," the airline said.

Roffman and Geinosky on Tuesday found out rather quickly how little those Southwest representatives could do, even though they showed them through a tracking app on their phone exactly where their bags were placed inside the airport.

The couple on Monday was turned away and told their bags would still be shipped to Las Vegas, even though they were no longer going to Nevada and instead heading home to Orlando on Friday. After standing in line again on Tuesday, another employee said she would try to stop the bags from getting put on a plane.

However, a few hours later, Roffman, using a tracking app, saw both bags were no longer inside the airport but instead on the runway.

Elizabeth Ferrer, an Austin-Bergstrom spokesperson, referred all questions regarding canceled and delayed Southwest flights in Austin back to the airline, saying that conversations between the airport and the airline were currently limited.

"The information that I have is that we haven't been in contact with them because they're busy doing all these things all over the country trying to fix it," Ferrer said. "This is the first time we've seen this kind of a backlog in a failing to move passengers. This is not typical at all."

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it would look into Southwest's flight cancellations, The Associated Press reported. About 4,000 domestic U.S. flights were canceled Monday, according to the tracking website FlightAware. About 2,900 of those were Southwest’s.

The Federal Aviation Administration in a statement Monday said anyone inconvenienced by a cancellation or delay within the airline's control can file a complaint with the Department of Transportation at https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-customer-service-dashboard.

Further down the line from Roffman and Geinosky at Austin-Bergstrom on Tuesday was Brooke Jones. For her 5-year-old, Cypress Riggs, the canceled Southwest Airlines flights meant Christmas still hadn’t come.

“My 5-year-old thinks Santa left his presents in Denver,” Jones said, explaining that her dad’s luggage full of gifts for his little grandson never made it to Austin. “He’s been surprisingly patient, so I’m really thankful about that.”

It could be days or even a week before the gifts make it to Austin, but Jones said she’s sure the new bike and Legos from the North Pole will make up for it in the end.

“I’m trying to be nice about it, but we’re not impressed,” said Scott Jones, Brooke Jones' father, about Southwest Airlines, adding that inside one of his bags is the wedding ring he’d upgraded for his wife for Christmas. “It feels pretty crappy, but we’re still hopeful because Cypress is being really patient.”

Other major airlines, including American, United, Delta and JetBlue, suffered cancellations rates of between none and 2% Tuesday, the AP reported. The cancellation rate at Southwest Airlines was 62%, according to FlightAware, after the airline canceled more that 70% of its flights Monday.

Southwest spokesman Jay McVay told reporters in Houston that cancellations piled up as storm systems moved across the country, leaving flight crews and planes out of place.

“So we’ve been chasing our tails, trying to catch up and get back to normal safely, which is our No. 1 priority as quickly as we could,” he said. "And that’s exactly how we ended up where we are today.”

Even further behind the Jones family in line was Lara Hodkinson, who was trying to stay calm even though thousands of dollars' worth of her wedding supplies were somewhere between Texas and Washington.

“My wedding is in a week and a half, and all of my wedding clothes were checked,” Hodkinson said. “They didn’t tell me my flight was canceled until after I checked my bags. This was supposed to be a de-stress time after planning my wedding for a year, but instead I’m standing in line, sleep-deprived and trying to get my bags.”

Hodkinson alerted her fiancé, who is still in Seattle, to try to get all of the luggage before coming to Austin next week.

“He’s also flying Southwest, so I told him to cancel and take a different airline,” she said. “I can’t have a wedding without my fiancé, and if he gets stuck, that would suck."

Southwest Airlines flight status

Southwest customers can check their flight status at southwest.com/air/flight-status/.

This article contains material from The Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Southwest Airlines cancellations continue at Austin airport