Nearly a week since a deadly winter storm began ravaging the country and left many stranded at airports nationwide, one airline is still struggling to recover operations.

Southwest Airlines announced Monday it would operate around one-third of its flying schedule over the next several days. By Tuesday afternoon, there were 2,992 flight cancellations nationwide, and 2,576 of those were Southwest flights, or 63% of flights it had scheduled.

Southwest flights in and out of Oklahoma City were no exception to the cancellations, with the airline canceling 16 flights leaving OKC's Will Rogers World Airport and 15 flights heading to Will Rogers. While some airlines had a few delays, including Alaska, American and Delta, no other airline canceled flights departing or arriving Oklahoma City on Tuesday.

Catie Clark and her husband made the short drive from Edmond to Will Rogers Tuesday morning, and received a notification when they arrived at 3:45 a.m. that their flight to Phoenix — where they would then head to Cancun — had been canceled.

Clark said after waiting in the Southwest customer service line for about 20 minutes, the employees said all Southwest flights out of Oklahoma City were canceled for the day. The earliest anyone could hope to get rebooked was Jan. 1, she said.

Clark and her husband found two open seats on an 8:30 a.m. American Airlines flight from Dallas to Cancun, and made the drive from OKC to Dallas in time to catch it.

"It’s super frustrating," Clark said in a Twitter direct message. "We are out thousands of dollars and we felt like our choice was to either lose money by canceling our trip altogether or spend more money so we didn’t lose the money we originally spent."

Clark said she has traveled for work for eight years and has always been a fan of Southwest but will evaluate her loyalty going forward. Clark said it seems Southwest has "not kept up with evolving needs of passengers" or staff.

Stacey Hamm, spokesperson for Will Rogers World Airport, told The Oklahoman other airlines seem to be back to normal operations in Oklahoma City. It's unclear to her, whose own travel plans have been disrupted by Southwest's cancellations, what is causing the disproportionate impact on the airline.

Tuesday afternoon there were dozens of travelers waiting in the Southwest customer service line and an overflow of luggage waiting to be claimed in Oklahoma City.

The Southwest cancellations amount to 16% of Oklahoma City departures and 18% of Oklahoma City arrivals scheduled for Tuesday, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.

Why is Southwest still canceling so many flights?

Southwest spokesman Jay McVay said at a news conference in Houston that cancellations snowballed 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."

In a Dec. 22 statement, the airline cited challenging working and travel conditions, especially in Denver and Chicago, as explanation for the disruption to operations.

"With more than half of the airports where we operate in the continental U.S. under duress from the storm, Southwest is uniquely affected given our size and structure," the airline said in a Christmas Eve statement.

But in a statement on Monday, the airline called the continued flight cancellations and delays "unacceptable."

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it is concerned about the airline's cancellation and delay levels, and reports that prompt customer service is lacking.

"The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan," the department said Monday.

The president of the union representing Southwest pilots blamed the lack of crews to fly planes on scheduling software written in the 1990s and on management that he said failed to fix things after previous meltdowns, including a major disruption in October 2021.

"There is a lot of frustration because this is so preventable," said the union official, Capt. Casey Murray. "The airline cannot connect crews to airplanes. I'm concerned about this weekend. I'm concerned about a month from now."

Southwest canceled your flight. What now?

Anyone whose flight was canceled can request a refund of the unused ticket at southwest.com/traveldisruption. Customers with travel plans through Jan. 2, can rebook between the same cities within 14 days of the original travel date with no additional charges.

Reimbursement for expenses incurred due to a flight cancellation or a significant delay can be emailed to the airline for consideration.

In addition to canceled flights, many customers are struggling to reunite with their checked baggage.

"We recognize that many of our Customers are currently separated from their belongings, and we’re working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible," the airline said in a Frequently Asked Question page.

The Oklahoman's Sooners beat writer Ryan Aber rented a car to drive to Orlando, Florida, for Thursday's Cheez-It Bowl after his flight from St. Louis was canceled. Aber's luggage is still in St. Louis, according to his Twitter feed where he has logged updates of his unplanned road trip.

Hamm's own travel plans are up in the air, figuratively speaking, after Southwest canceled her family's flight from Oklahoma City to Houston booked for Thursday. Hamm's family was supposed to head to Tampa, Florida, from Houston.

She said Southwest phone numbers aren't working, and the mobile app shows no flights leaving Oklahoma City.

Southwest encourages anyone who isn't travelling within the next 72 hours to avoid calling as they are experiencing long hold times due to high demand.

"Yesterday there were no Southwest employees at the airport at all," Hamm said. "I don't know if it's a system glitch that Southwest is having. We're just not able to get hold of anybody to find out what's going on."

Hamm said anyone stranded at the Oklahoma City airport can receive help from customer service booking a hotel, and some even have shuttles that go between the hotel and airport.

But booking a hotel isn't always an option financially, Hamm acknowledged. Stranded customers are welcome to sleep at the airport, Hamm said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Southwest nationwide flight cancellations impacting OKC airport