ST. LOUIS — People reported numerous problems with missing luggage in the Southwest terminal at St. Louis Lambert International Airport Monday. The line was still hundreds of people deep Monday afternoon.
Southwest agents announced at about 5 p.m. that most of the bags around the carousel are local and people should leave the line because the airline will call them to locate their bags. There were only two people working in the office Monday afternoon.
Despite the holiday decorations at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, there was nothing cherry in the lower level of Terminal 2.
Like many, passenger Paula Ferrari, had been through several canceled flights on Monday trying to get to Atlanta.
"I never left St. Louis; I spent the night here at the airport. They offered nothing. Absolutely nothing," she said.
Richard Kincheloe and his family hadn't had their luggage since Christmas Eve.
"I did brush my teeth once in the last four days, but other than that. I'm at a low point, I'm using lady speed stick in the airport. I mean the whole airport was just chaos. People were crying, people were throwing things, people were screaming and yelling," he said.
The cancellations and delays continued to come one after the other for Kincheloe and his family that they decided to drive 17 hours from Orlando just to get back home.
"We were all together, so it'll definitely be a Christmas that we remember because of the car trip and the car ride, but I would've rather been home," he said.
While crews continued to keep the runways cleared outside, Matt Ingalls waited patiently in the cellphone lot for the call from his fiancé that they finally got their luggage, after almost 24 hours of waiting.
"We ended up going home and came back this morning to try to get our bags. My fiancé was on hold with Southwest for 9 1/2 hours last night. We actually didn't get through to them," he said.
Flights were canceled around the country people reported being stranded in airports near and far, waiting for a confirmed seat to their destination. Some bags arrived at the destination, while others were held up at layovers along the way.
Flight tracking website FlightAware said 80 Southwest flights, or 38%, were canceled out of STL on Sunday. All other airlines had 11 canceled flights Sunday and five canceled flights Monday.
As of Monday night, according to FlightAware, 158 flights have been canceled at Lambert, and 151 of those are from Southwest.
Southwest Airlines attributed the delays to scheduling issues, not staffing issues.
We reached out to Southwest Airlines for additional information, and they shared this statement:
While I don’t have figures from specific airports where we operate, we are still experiencing disruptions across our network as a result of Winter Storm Elliott’s lingering effects on the totality of our operation. With the weather now considerably more favorable, we continue work to stabilize and improve our operation.
We are re-accommodating as many Customers as possible, based on available space, whose itineraries have been disrupted. Those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire. Information for Customers with lost baggage is here: https://www.southwest.com/help/baggage/lost-damaged-baggage
Customers can also speak with a representative at the baggage service office in an airport where we operate or contact Southwest customer service, though we are experiencing abnormally high call volumes.
We have experienced issues connecting our flight crews to their schedules. It is a scheduling issue, not a staffing issue.
A national statement was issued Monday afternoon, saying:
With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our Customers and Employees in a significant way that is unacceptable.
And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.
We’re working with Safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning Crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us.
We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity.
This safety-first work is intentional, ongoing, and necessary to return to normal reliability, one that minimizes last-minute inconveniences. We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period. And we’re working to reach to Customers whose travel plans will change with specific information and their available options.
Our Employees and Crews scheduled to work this holiday season are showing up in every single way. We are beyond grateful for that. Our shared goal is to take care of every single Customer with the Hospitality and Heart for which we’re known.
On the other side of this, we’ll work to make things right for those we’ve let down, including our employees.
With no concern higher than ultimate Safety, the People of Southwest share a goal to take care of each and every Customer. We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize.
Southwest Airlines' website read, "Our phone system is very busy due to high demand. Customers booked during this time may be eligible to rebook or fly standby without any charges. Use our self-service tools to change or cancel your flight."