Hundreds of thousands of travelers鈥� plans are up in the air as caused a historic meltdown for Southwest Airlines.
Now many of those travelers are seeking a refund.
The company says anyone seeking a refund or reimbursement should .
Southwest says it will honor 鈥渞easonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation,鈥� though the company did not clarify what constituted a 鈥渞easonable鈥� expense.
The airline initially offered to reimburse travelers for their airfare using its , but increased traffic to the page is resulting in delays.
- Error messages: Southwest鈥檚 website disclaims that 鈥渉igh demand may impact the functionality of our website.鈥�
- Exclusions: The portal also notes that customers who at least partially flew their route or booked through a third party are excluded from using the portal. Southwest redirects these folks to a customer service line. However, high demand has impaired customers鈥� ability to connect with a representative by phone.
- Availability: With thousands of people flooding the airline鈥檚 website to rebook, flights are being snatched up quickly. Southwest is asking folks with non-urgent travel plans to 鈥渁void calling if you are not traveling within the next 72 hours.鈥� The airline encouraged folks to instead keep refreshing the website to see if any flights become available.
The company has faced harsh criticism from passengers whose travel plans were upended.
This is what does when you accept their app鈥檚 鈥渞efund鈥� offer.
— Steven Porter (@reporterporter)
This isn鈥檛 a refund.
We鈥檙e spending $1,200+ to switch travel plans because of Southwest鈥檚 meltdown.
Not everyone can afford to get home while floating Southwest a loan.
cc
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said refunding flights isn鈥檛 enough, and the airline is now facing a federal investigation.
On Wednesday, Buttigieg tweeted:
Just as we鈥檝e used our regulatory and enforcement tools to secure over $622,000,000 in refunds to hundreds of thousands of US air passengers this year alone, USDOT will continue acting to ensure Southwest passengers get the refunds and expense reimbursements they are owed.
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete)
