Southwest Cancels Nearly 500 Flights At Midway, More At O'Hare

CHICAGO — Passengers booked on Southwest Airlines flights out of Chicago continue to experience frustrations and cancelations on Wednesday, days after the carrier’s troubles began and that has drawn the ire of federal officials.

As of Wednesday morning, all of Midway Airport’s 231 canceled flights are on Southwest while an additional 37 Southwest flights have been canceled out of O’Hare International Airport, according to FlightAware.com. This comes just a day after 250 Southwest flights out of Midway were canceled due to the carrier’s widespread issues that spanned across the country.

The flight-tracking website indicates that 217 Southwest flights scheduled for Thursday out of Midway have already been canceled, but that only five Southwest flights scheduled for Friday have been canceled.

Air travelers across the country and at both of Chicago’s two major airports have spent this week dealing with lost luggage, and long lines in addition to seeing flights canceled as a major winter storm have started to finally give way to milder temperatures.

"I’m angry as hell, because I see mismanagement," one upset traveler told NBC Chicago after being stranded at Midway for two days. NBC documented hundreds of bags strewn all over the airport and luggage from multiple flights creating chaos at baggage carousels.

Southwest officials have acknowledged the airline’s issues, which have been deemed “unacceptable” by federal officials, including President Joe Biden, who said he is calling on executives with the airline to do better in addressing the ongoing cancelations and delays.

The airline's ongoing cancelations have prompted scrutiny from federal officials, with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg saying his department would hold the airline accountable.

"This is an unacceptable situation," Buttigieg told CNN. "Their system really has completely melted down, and our department will be holding them accountable … both to get them through this situation and to make sure this can’t happen again."

Southwest took to social media to address the flight cancelations Tuesday night.

"On the heels of wide-scale disruptions, we're working diligently to Safely recover our operation and accommodate displaced Customers and Crews," Southwest said. "We acknowledge this is unacceptable and sincerely apologize."

Southwest customers traveling through Jan. 2 can rebook in the original class of service or travel on standby without paying additional charges, according to the airline. Travelers can learn more here.

According to FlightAware.com. there have been nearly 2,800 flights within, into, or out of the United States that had been canceled Wednesday, a majority of which are operated by Southwest.

In a video statement Tuesday, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said he was "truly sorry," adding that he had been in contact with Buttigieg.

"Here's why this giant puzzle is taking us several days to solve," Jordan said in his statement.

"Southwest is the largest carrier in the country, not only because of our value and our values but because we build our flight schedule around communities, not hubs ... Cities where large numbers of scheduled flights simultaneously froze as record bitter cold brought challenges for all airlines," he said. "Our network is highly complex and the operation of the airline counts on all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews remaining in motion to where they're planned to go."

Buttigieg said the airline was having issues with systems for managing its schedule and crew. He noted that the rest of the aviation industry was on its way to recovery following the worst of the storm with cancellations on other airlines being significantly lower.

Pointing to customer service commitments the department had secured from major airlines over the summer, Buttigieg said they would be using that as a tool for accountability. Jordan pledged that Southwest would not only meet but exceed the customer service standards, according to Buttigieg.