Back to normal? Wary travelers return for Southwest flights at Bay Area airports. Here’s how it’s going

Southwest planes are taking off from rain-soaked tarmacs, screening lines are humming, and thousands of passengers are once again lugging their suitcases through the Bay Area. On any other day, this would be a routine scene with the airline’s significant hubs in Oakland and San Jose. But after this past week’s colossal airline meltdown, wary travelers on the tail-end of the worst holiday travel season in recent memory are wondering: Are things really back to normal?

“Everybody is checking their phones every 20 minutes,” said LaDonna Parham, a professional mentor who spent a night stranded, “cold and hungry” at the Denver airport after a Southwest cancelation. On Friday, she cautiously flew from Oakland back home to Austin, Texas, making sure to book a non-stop flight and only take a carry-on bag. “If it’s not a direct flight, I’m not going.”

Southwest promised that by Friday it would restore its flight schedule with “minimal disruptions.” And by late morning, the airline appeared to have hit the reset button, pulling off a remarkable turnaround from slashing over 13,000 flights in recent days to operating at full steam with over 4,200 flights. Oakland International saw zero canceled flights by Friday afternoon and Mineta San Jose International tallied only three, about 1% of Southwest traffic.

Days earlier, electronic boards cataloging arrivals and departures were overflowing with anxiety-inducing red boxes marking canceled flights and countless upended holiday plans. Now the boards in Oakland are a sea of calming green noting the on-time arrival of planes from Chicago, Phoenix, and San Antonio.

For passengers like Barry and Sheila Gibert of Yorba Linda, the airport chaos has given way to smooth sailing. “It was great, it was perfect,” said Sheila, who arrived in San Jose from Orange County. “The flight was one-third full. Absolutely wonderful, it could not have been nicer.”

In his first interview since the biggest operational debacle in Southwest history, CEO Bob Jordan said the airline is “off to a great start today.”

“Beyond safety, there is no greater focus at this point than taking care of our customers, reuniting them with their bags, getting refunds processed,” Jordan said on ABC’s Good Morning America. He promised the airline would work to prevent a future collapse and sidestepped questions over whether he should resign.

Jamie Green, 52, greeted the situation at the Oakland airport with a mixture of relief and hesitance.

“Lord have mercy,” said Green as she checked in for a flight to Las Vegas. Green was also checking her phone constantly for signs of delays, which had yet to appear. “The line is not humongous, and I feel hopeful.”

The airline havoc has sparked a federal investigation and mounting pressure to hold Southwest leadership accountable. Air travel experts say Southwest’s failure to update its decades-old scheduling software catalyzed the mass cancellations, which left customers stranded around the country. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said his agency was ready to levy hefty fines on Southwest if they “fail to meet what is required of them to take care of passengers.”

While Friday saw Southwest’s return to operations, the fiasco has deeply tarnished the reputation of the Golden State’s “unofficial flag airline.” The episode may cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars and Southwest faces swarms of loyal customers who are now questioning their devotion to the carrier.

“I used to be die-hard Southwest at all costs,” said Heath Lehman a frequent Southwest flyer. “It’s not going to be that way any longer.”

Lehman and his son Ethan were trying to salvage a long-awaited Hawaii vacation. After watching customers break down crying in an Arkansas airport on Christmas, booking a $600 rental car to Dallas, and spending a “full human day” on hold, the pair were on the final stretch. They could almost taste the Mai Tais and feel the sand beneath their toes, but first, they had a six-hour layover in rainy Oakland.

“We’re praying,” said Lehman.

But plenty of passengers said they are willing to give the airline a second chance citing years of good service. “I like Southwest because in the past they’ve made things right,” said Hope Vailancourt, who had to shell out for an unintended hotel stay in San Jose with her husband, Scott. “I have confidence that they will. They’re a good airline so I hope things will work out.”