Southwest customers complain about airline failure on social media: NPR

Southwest Airlines has canceled more than 15,000 flights and lost thousands of bags in the past week.

Craig Hastings/Getty Images

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Craig Hastings/Getty Images

Southwest Airlines has canceled more than 15,000 flights and lost thousands of bags in the past week.

Craig Hastings/Getty Images

One of the most powerful things about social media is that it can take you to the heart of the situation: a Lizzo concert, a political rally, a Florida emu farm, a picnic where a young man expresses his devotion to corn…

Or a Southwest Airlines baggage claim at the Houston airport on Christmas Day, where suitcases stretch out into the ocean as far as the eye can see.

The video was posted by 29-year-old Hillary Chang, a longtime Southwest Airlines devotee. “I’m a very loyal Southwest customer,” says Chang, who travels frequently with her boyfriend. “I have a Southwest credit card. We actually only fly Southwest.”

At least they did that.

Chang and his girlfriend were booked on a Southwest flight from Baltimore to their home in Los Angeles on Christmas Day with a connection in Houston. They arrived in Houston a few hours late, only to find that their flight to LA had been canceled. They were told to take their bags and try to book again.

They rushed to the luggage room where the TikTok scene unfolded in front of them. What Chang didn’t mention was that his girlfriend had recently proposed and (while the ring itself was on her finger) the ring box was in his checked bag, which he hoped to keep as a keepsake.

“I’m not going to lie, I shed a tear,” she said with a laugh. “I was. I was crying.”

Hillary Chang and her boyfriend recently got engaged. Chang was wearing the ring, but the ring box was in Chang’s checked luggage on Southwest Airlines, where he feared it would be lost.

Hillary Chang

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Hillary Chang

Hillary Chang and her boyfriend recently got engaged. Chang was wearing the ring, but the ring box was in Chang’s checked luggage on Southwest Airlines, where he feared it would be lost.

Hillary Chang

Trying to get help from (or even hearing from) Southwest was futile, Chang says. There were hundreds of people waiting in line for customer service. Still, Chang could have a voice and find a sympathetic ear on social media.

“Houston airport looks like this,” he says, parading hundreds of stray suitcases on TikTok. It’s enough to chill the blood of any frequent flyer.

A series of massive winter storms hit the United States last week, effectively shutting down holiday travel in some parts of the country.

All airlines had cancellations and delays, but none like Southwest Airlines, which canceled more than 15,000 flights — 10 times more than any other carrier.

A public relations disaster for Southwest, not to mention a huge financial hit. Citigroup believes that the failure of the holiday flight could seriously damage the airline’s revenues.

Growing a black eye for the Southwest is social media. All week, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have been flooded with pictures and videos of people’s horrific travel experiences, making the scale of the debacle even more visceral.

One woman tweeted that she was stuck in an airport for days with two babies and a toddler.

Posts like this one have had millions of views and comments like “Don’t fly @SouthwestAir people” and “Southwest is going to get screwed over this and rightfully so.”

Even White House Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg rallied around embarrassing the airline with tweets.

Richard Aboulafia, an airline analyst with AeroDynamic Advisory, said he was shocked by the collapse at Southwest.

“They have the best reputation for customer service and management flexibility,” he says. “They usually respond very well to crises and I’m really surprised by it all.”

Still, Aboulafia thinks Southwest Airlines can win back those customers if it manages the situation properly. “As bad as it was this weekend, there was no safety issue,” he says. “I think customers can forgive them.”

Hillary Chang, a Southwest loyalist, isn’t so sure.

Stuck in Houston, looking at the vastness of the wheels and the huge line of travelers, Chang and her fiance realized they needed to protect themselves.

They rented a car and drove back to Los Angeles within 21 hours. Chang posted a short TikTok on the morning of December 27 from the road trip, which involved an overnight drive to get back to work. TikTok paid off a bit — one of Chang’s friends sent him $50 for gas. a good pair for the long haul.

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan released a social media video of his own, calling the week-long crisis “a giant puzzle” and vowing to get to the bottom of what happened. Although thousands of customers are still stranded, Southwest said it expects to resume normal operations by Friday and is taking new orders for the first time in days.

It’s cold comfort to Chang, who says he’s questioned his loyalty to the carrier for years.

“I have 50,000 miles with them … and I’ve been thinking about it, believe me. I’m not completely done with Southwest, but I’m open … I’m open to meeting with another airline.”

Chang never expects to see his suitcase (or ring box) again. “People tell me to stay positive, but if they saw what I saw at the Houston airport, they wouldn’t,” he says. “I can hope that maybe in a couple of weeks it will show up, but mentally at this point I just have to be like, ‘it’s gone and it’s fine.'”