Southwest Airlines More Or Less Returns To Normal Schedule Amid Processing Refunds

Southwest Airlines Co LUV restored to more-normal operations this weekend after a cascade of flight cancellations over the holidays.
The airline canceled a few flights on Saturday and Sunday—less than 1% of what it had scheduled each day, according to FlightAware.
Citing in part early-morning fog in Chicago and heavy snowfall in Denver, Southwest canceled roughly 190 flights Monday, or about 4% of what it had planned, according to FlightAware.
Related: Southwest's Holiday Chaos Will Affect Q4 Earnings.
"We're operating a normal schedule today and are pleased with the operational performance over the past few days," a spokeswoman said.
While that storm created problems for all airlines, Southwest canceled far more flights, with 16,000 flights between December 22 - December 29, and was much slower than others to recover, writes Wall Street Journal.
The airline recruited volunteers to help process customer refunds and sort the missing bags with the help of United Parcel Service Inc UPS and FedEx Corporation FDX to transport lost luggage.
Southwest has apologized and pledged to refund flights and reimburse customers.
Southwest said it was monitoring the impact of the slowdown on its operations and would work to minimize customer disruptions.
The carrier is still being tested by weather, air-traffic-control computer issue in Florida.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem had been resolved.
The issue was the latest problem to cripple U.S. travel after a massive winter storm during the Christmas holiday season.
Price Action: LUV shares are up 0.77% at $33.93 during the premarket session on the last check Tuesday.

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