Pete Buttigieg, CEO of Southwest, has warned that the airline will be held responsible

(CNN) — The collapse of Southwest Airlines has put the Dallas-headquartered company under intense scrutiny — not only from commuters and media reports, but also from U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

He spoke directly to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan on Tuesday about the thousands of flights canceled this week without immediate indication of when passengers could rebook.

“Their system has completely melted down,” Buttigieg told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday.

“I’ve made it clear that our department will hold them accountable for their responsibility to their customers to get them through this situation and prevent this from happening again.”

Passengers booked with Southwest Airlines are hoping for some much-needed relief from cancellations and delays. But those hopes — so far — are fading.

Almost all of the 2,600 cancellations earlier for Wednesday were by Southwest.

All other US airlines accounted for more than 100 of the cancellations.

Latest flight cancellation and delay figures

A look at the current numbers shows why Buttigieg is concerned.

More than 2,650 flights were canceled. Southwest people. That’s nearly two-thirds of all Southwest flights canceled for Tuesday and a staggering 85 percent of all flights canceled in the United States.

In contrast, competitor Alaska Airlines had 10% of its flights canceled, while United Airlines had just 2%.

The airports hardest hit by Tuesday’s cancellations were Denver International, followed by Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport, Chicago Midway International, Baltimore/Washington International, Nashville International and Dallas Love Field.

As of 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, there were approximately 6,00 delays.

Buttigieg takes Southwest to work

Southwest blamed the travel disaster on a number of factors, including winter storm delays, aggressive flight schedules and outdated infrastructure.

“As far as I can tell, Southwest can’t even locate their own crew, let alone the passengers, let alone the baggage,” Buttigieg said, speaking with leaders of the airline’s unions representing flight attendants and pilots.

The secretary told CEO Jordan that Southwest expects to proactively issue refunds and reimbursements to affected passengers without asking.

“I informed the general manager that they expect us to go above and beyond to take care of passengers and resolve this,” he said.

Buttigieg told CNN that the Transportation Department is prepared to pursue penalties against Southwest if there is evidence that the company failed to meet its legal obligations, but added that the department will closely monitor a series of customer service problems at the airline.

“While other parts of the aviation system are recovering and improving every day, it’s really going in the opposite direction with this airline,” Buttigieg said.

“There is a lot of cleanliness in this company,” he said.

Sorry for the video

“We’re doing everything we can to get back to normal operations, and I’m really sorry,” Jordan said.

While Jordan acknowledged there were problems with the company’s response, the statement indicated he did not see major changes to Southwest’s processes in response to the mass cancellation.

“Our disaster recovery tools serve us well 99% of the time, but we clearly need to systematize our existing plans for these extreme situations so that we never face what’s happening now,” Jordan said.

“We are optimistic that we will be back on track before next week.”

So what can Southwest passengers do?

Southwest warned that this week’s cancellations and delays will continue for several more days.

So where does that leave customers in real congestion? What should they do?

“Every airline in the country is packed right now, so your chances of getting a seat — let alone half as good a price — diminish with time,” Potter said.

“Travelers in the thick of it should be sure to save all their receipts: other flights, rental cars, hotel nights, meals, anything,” Potter said.

“US Airlines’ main phone line is blocked with other passengers. Call the airline’s dozens of international offices to get quick access to an agent,” Scott Keys said.

“Agents can handle your booking just like US-based ones do, but there’s almost no waiting to go through.”

multiplying problems

The Southwest was hit particularly hard.

The storm hit its two biggest hubs — Chicago and Denver — just as winter ailments were stretching the workforce. Southwest’s aggressive schedule and lack of investment were also criticized.

Christmas week was no time for the winter storm that flooded across the country for travelers, which began pushing flight numbers back to pre-pandemic levels.

On Christmas Day, 3,178 flights were canceled and 6,870 were delayed, according to FlightAware. A total of 3,487 flights were canceled on Christmas Eve, according to FlightAware.

Friday was the series’ worst day with 5,934 cancellations, while Thursday saw nearly 2,700 cancellations.

Long lines and piles of bags at airports

Long lines were forming at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s Southwest ticket counter Tuesday morning as travelers waited to rebook flights or make connections.

And at Chicago Midway International, unclaimed bags piled up as passengers struggled to reclaim their luggage. Harry Reid in Las Vegas and William P. There were similar scenes at other airports, including Hobby Airport.

Passenger Trisha Jones told CNN at the Atlanta airport that she and her partner had been traveling for five days trying to get home to Wichita, Kansas after disembarking in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

After her flight was canceled, she stayed with relatives, then returned to Atlanta to catch a connecting flight.

“We were lucky, because we were in Fort Lauderdale — my family lives in the Tampa Bay area, so we were able to rent a car to see my family for Christmas,” Jones said. “We saw so many families sleeping upstairs and it breaks my heart.”

Southwest: ‘Keep Your Receipts’

A Southwest Airlines spokeswoman said the recent winter storm was to blame for the canceled flights.

Jay McVeigh in Houston William P. “As the storm continues to move across the country, it continues to affect many of our larger stations, and the cancellations are anywhere from 100 to 150 to 1,000 if you put them together,” Hobby Airport said at a news conference. Monday evening.

“With those cancellations, and as a result, we will have crews and aircraft not in the cities we want to continue our operations, but with crews out of place.”

McVeigh is currently the company’s top priority safety. “We want to make sure that we operate these flights safely and that the flight crews are legitimate and have enough time to operate these flights,” he said.

“We’re going to do whatever we have to do to fix the challenges we’re facing right now,” he said, “hotels, ride assistance, vans … rental cars to get these people back home as quickly as possible.”

They have promised that customers who have checked out of the airport or who have made their own alternative arrangements will also be taken care of.

“If you’re already gone, take care of yourself, do what you need to do for your family, take care of your bills,” McVey said. “We’ll make sure they’re taken care of, that’s not the question.”

From a pilot’s point of view, what’s wrong?

He said last week’s storm helped trigger major technical issues.

“What’s wrong is that our IT infrastructure is too outdated to schedule software,” he said. The number of pilots we have in the system, the flight attendants, cannot be accommodated by our complex road network.

“We don’t have the regular hubs that other major airlines do. We fly a point-to-point network, which can put our crew in the wrong place without the planes.”

He added: “It’s disappointing for the pilots, flight attendants and especially our passengers. We’re tired of apologizing to the Southwest Airlines pilots. Our hearts go out to all passengers, they really do.”

In other developments

CNN’s Andy Rose, Andi Babineau, Adrienne Broaddus, Dave Alsap, Nick Valencia, David Goldman, Leslie Perrot, Carlos Suarez and Ross Levitt contributed to this story.