Will travelers ever trust Southwest Airlines again after its cancellations disaster?

Southwest Airlines, which spent years building a fiercely loyal customer base and a reputation for reliability, faces an unprecedented crisis of trust as it digs out from one of the worst airline meltdowns in industry history.

Experts in public relations, branding and corporate crisis management say the Dallas-based airline can rebound from the disaster. But it will require taking sincere ownership of its mistakes and pursuing corrective actions, rather than blaming the Christmas weekend winter storm.

But it’s likely not going to be a quick recovery for Southwest, long considered an industry darling.

“Anytime there is a major interruption in services for any organization for any reason, there is going to be customer dissatisfaction, anger, and upset,” said Brandy Runyan, founder and CEO of Black Diamond PR & Sport Management Firm in Dallas.

“Sadly, many businesses are not properly equipped to handle certain situations until they are presented with them,” Runyan said. “It is unacceptable that Southwest was not prepared for the fallout in this case, but it can only be used now as an opportunity to do better in the future.”

As brutally cold weather bore down on much of the country, the carrier canceled thousands of flights during the holiday rush, left travelers stranded and filled airport terminals with piles of unclaimed baggage.

On top of that, a damaging internal memo detailed mandatory overtime practices that industry analysts said had the opposite effect that Southwest had hoped to get through the holidays.

Customers, employees and industry experts were critical of Southwest’s inability to respond to the meltdown, saying that its customer service and public response lacked the needed urgency. The airline had failed to upgrade its technology, which contributed heavily to the chaos. And on Monday night, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a review into whether the cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest was complying with its customer service plan.

Travel experts have been describing it as the worst airline disruption in years.

On Wednesday, 2,500 more flights were canceled, accounting for 61% of the airline’s flights. As of Thursday afternoon, 2,300 flights — or more than half — had already been canceled. The airline’s stock has plummeted, with shares dropping by nearly 9% over five days. By Thursday, when the airline announced its hope to resume normal operations, the stock turned around by approximately 4%.

Southwest offers apology, refunds

In a video statement Tuesday evening, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan apologized to customers. Southwest has also said that travelers whose flights were canceled may request a full refund or receive flight credit and can submit travel expenses online. As for the slew of lost baggage caused by the cancellations, customers are told to file claims.

“We’re focused on safely getting all of the pieces back into position to end this rolling struggle,” Jordan said.

On Wednesday night, Southwest’s chief commercial officer Ryan Green issued a video statement apologizing to customers and pledging to make things right. He told customers to visit southwest.com/traveldisruption to rearrange travel, get a refund or track down luggage.

“My personal apology on behalf of myself and everyone at Southwest Airlines for all of this,” Green said. “My personal apology is the first step of making things right after many plans changed and experiences fell short of your expectations of us.”

Transparency, reliability questioned

Southwest has been known for friendly, reliable and low-cost air travel. Travelers can fly on cheap flights without compromising comfort, security or flexibility.

Southwest was ranked one of the top 15 airlines in the world in 2021. Its motto — “Low Fares. Nothing to Hide” — emphasized a culture of transparency among employees and customers. Those core values have been tested by the holiday travel fiasco.

With a cult-like following, it’s also been a model for brand loyalty.

Shelley Wigley, a public relations professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, says she often uses Southwest as an exemplar when teaching crisis communication because of its customer and employee loyalty, and how much goodwill the airline creates among stakeholders.

“Southwest was extremely trusted by its customer base,” Wigley said. “They have some of the most loyal customers around, especially among airlines, because they know how to treat people. They also understand the importance of relationships and that choosing an airline is not just about a financial transaction. It’s not uncommon to see how loyal customers often come to their defense on social media, including during this current meltdown. You don’t see that with other airline carriers — at least I haven’t.”

But defending Southwest on social media was not the common response this time.

Thousands of posts and news stories have chronicled the nightmare at airports across the country and the difficulty reaching customer service. One user posted a video Wednesday morning of law enforcement telling Southwest travelers in Nashville who were standing in line to leave or be arrested for “trespassing.”

Overworked employees on front lines

Southwest employees are speaking out about working conditions amid the cancellations. TWU Local 555, the union for Southwest ground crews, said in a statement that many workers have been working 16- to 18-hour days, and some suffered frostbite in sub-zero temperatures during the winter storm.

The union representing Southwest flight attendants, TWU Local 556, also shared its frustrations, saying the airline has been warned for years about technical issues that contributed to the mass cancellations.

“If Southwest is not taking care of their employees,” said Francisco Guzmán, a branding professor at UNT, “then it could get really bad because then employees might say we’re done and we’re not going to take this. You can only take so much screaming and mistreatment from angry passengers.”

Organizations that do not treat their employees well often don’t survive a crisis like this, said Wigley, the UT Arlington public relations professor.

“The fact that most Southwest employees feel great affection for their organization only helps Southwest in this case,” Wigley said. “For example, you saw the Southwest pilot helping to load bags onto an airplane and hear stories of Southwest employees working long shifts, smiling, and being helpful all while dealing with unhappy customers. That says a lot about the culture of Southwest Airlines and what it values.”

How to rebuild customer loyalty

With the inadequate handling of the travel disaster, it’s unclear to what degree Southwest will be able to regain customer trust and loyalty and rebuild its reputation. Experts say that while the brand is salvageable, it will take time.

UNT professor Guzmán says Southwest’s loyal customer base and positive brand perception will help it recover more quickly. He says the situation calls for not only an apology and a response empathizing with customers, but also acknowledging mistakes and addressing how to resolve them.

“What we’re seeing right now is that Southwest has not owned up to the error,” Guzmán said. “Southwest is not owning up to what they did wrong, the mistakes and the things that are happening now go beyond the weather. The longer they take in owning up, I think the more damage will be done to the brand.”

Wigley said it was good that the CEO “showed his face” instead of just releasing a statement, and that “he took responsibility, admitted that what is happening is unacceptable and promised to make sure that it won’t happen again.”

In a crisis situation, the organization should always put the most impacted people first, which means frequent communication to employees and passengers. The airline should go above and beyond to help those impacted by the meltdown, Wigley said, in order to stay true to its brand values. That includes getting customers to where they need to be — chartering buses, reimbursing for rental cars and booking customers on other airlines.

“Going forward, Southwest must correct what went wrong. One mistake or meltdown is forgivable for most people, but repeated instances create a crisis history and chisel away at an organization’s reputation and bottom-line,” Wigley said. “The airline must take corrective action and fix what caused the meltdown. The organization can’t simply blame the weather because other airlines were able to get people where they needed to be and Southwest was clearly the outlier.”

Public relations professional Runyan says Southwest can use this situation as an opportunity to improve its disaster preparedness plans. Airlines should prepare to serve customers in events of mass cancellations.

“It is typical to lose business for a period of time while upset customers undergo a cooling-off period. Some may return at a later date once this is all behind everyone and some will never use Southwest again,” Runyan said. “As Southwest works to improve services, it is possible that they can win back consumers and possibly gain new ones.”

‘It’s a reputation blow’

Airline industry analyst Robert Mann, president of R.W. Mann & Co. in New York, told the Star-Telegram that while Southwest can rebound, it could take up to a year.

“Can they come back? Yes, they can, but it will take time,” Mann said. “This is not a life or death event. It will cost the brand a lot of money. It’s a reputation blow to them.”

To get customers to fly Southwest again, the airline should not only give refunds, but could also offer Southwest vouchers for $500, Mann said.

“It’s a question of rebuilding that trust. Years of building that trust and it could be gone in an instant, or in this case, a matter of months,” he said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is calling on Southwest to do more for customers.

“When you’re in the situation and the airline is responsible, which is clearly the case right now, then you can get those kinds of vouchers for hotels, restaurants,” Buttigieg told CNN on Tuesday. “But what I talked about with the Southwest CEO, is that a passenger shouldn’t have to request that. They need to be proactively offering that. He pledged that they would. And again, we’ll be watching to make sure that they follow through.”

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted on Wednesday that Southwest has “failed” its customers and workers. He added that the airline must make amends by fairly compensating passengers for their canceled flights, incurred expenses and ruined holidays.

In a joint statement Thursday, Democratic Rep. Colin Allred and Republican Rep. Jake Ellzey said that “Southwest can afford to address the issues at hand but has chosen not to.” The airline recently announced it would reinstate its quarterly dividend for the first time since the pandemic started and will pay out about $428 million at the end of January.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reiterated the need for accountability when things go wrong for travelers.

“When a flight is canceled or severely delayed and it’s the airline’s fault, they are responsible for taking care of the customer,” the department tweeted on Tuesday. “Southwest needs to make good on its promise to travelers.”

Moving forward, Southwest’s recovery will depend on how quickly they are able to make changes to their scheduling tool so something like this never happens again, Wigley said. That information will need to be communicated to employees and customers. The ultimate test will come during the next large-scale weather disruption.

“Because of its culture and values and long history of treating people right, Southwest Airlines will use this as an opportunity to improve the company and maybe even the airline industry as a whole,” Wigley says.