Southwest Airlines Fliers Contend With Lost Luggage Along With Lost Flights

Meanwhile, Southwest customers across the country were still struggling to get to their destinations, and many had become separated from their luggage along the way.

Sen.

Maria Cantwell,

a Democrat from Washington, said Tuesday the Senate Commerce Committee will be looking into the flight disruptions at Southwest. 

The Transportation Department said Monday that it will examine whether Southwest could have controlled the cancellations and if the airline was complying with its own customer-service plan. 

Southwest has called the disruption unacceptable and said it was working to address it. 

The airline said Tuesday that to keep people from booking flights that ultimately may be canceled and to give various systems time to sync up, it removed some seats for sale on its website. Most flights scheduled for the coming days across its network are shown as unavailable to book. 

“Due to our limited schedule and large number of re-accommodations, inventory available to book flights across our network is very low, but we are still operating flights,” a spokesman said in a statement. 

Sarah Jane Graham, a 25-year-old engineer from Boston, said she was hoping to spend this week with her boyfriend in Florida. She was stranded in Nashville, Tenn., midway into her journey when her connecting flight was canceled on Monday. After failing to find other Southwest flights to Florida, she booked an American Airlines flight back to Boston for Tuesday. She and her boyfriend hope to meet up in the new year instead.

Ms. Graham checked two bags, and says she doesn’t know when she will be reunited with them. She said she spent over four hours Monday waiting in line at baggage claim, hoping to get her luggage.

When she finally made it to the front of the line, she said she was told there wasn’t enough staff to pull the luggage from the tarmac or elsewhere in the airport. The checked bags contained much of her clothing, plus Christmas presents for her boyfriend. “I do regret packing my toothbrush in there,” she joked, adding that most of her other essentials went in her carry-on.

Southwest employees told Ms. Graham that her luggage would still be flown down to Florida, she said, at which point she could request to have it returned to Boston.

She said an airline staff member told her she would need to pick up her luggage herself from Boston Logan International Airport, but the airline said in an email that customers “may choose to have baggage delivered to an address of their choosing free of charge” and that customers will be contacted over the coming days to arrange delivery.

“The Southwest team is working diligently to reunite customers with their baggage after the recent disruptions to our network,” the airline said in an email. The airline has created a section of its website for customers to request refunds and reimbursement for canceled flights and missing bags. 

Many other passengers face a similar conundrum after their travel plans were derailed by Southwest’s meltdown. Becca Webster, a 33-year-old from Nashville, was supposed to fly to Las Vegas on Monday morning with the airline to visit family and friends. While she never made it there due to flight cancellations, her luggage did. Ms. Webster has flown with Southwest in the past because, unlike most other carriers, the airline still allows passengers to check two bags free.

Ms. Webster’s checked bags contained medication and gifts. 

“All that is now 1,500 miles away, and I have no idea as to when I can get it back,” she said. She finds herself checking on the AirTags she had placed in the bags every 30 minutes or so to make sure they haven’t been taken from the airport. 

She is debating whether to try flying to Las Vegas to retrieve her bags or have a friend or family member go collect them for her.

The added confusion caused by the luggage situation with Southwest has led to more tension between passengers and airline staff. In Nashville, Ms. Webster said passengers near her grew angry as word spread that the airline couldn’t retrieve people’s luggage after flights were canceled.

“It was like a wave that gradually grew louder and louder. It was pure chaos,” she said.

On social media, users encouraged people stuck at airports due to delayed flights to look for phone numbers on the luggage tags of unclaimed bags to contact the owners to let them know where their items ended up.

—Alison Sider contributed to this article.

Write to Jacob Passy at jacob.passy@wsj.com

Meanwhile, Southwest customers across the country were still struggling to get to their destinations, and many had become separated from their luggage along the way.

Sen.

Maria Cantwell,

a Democrat from Washington, said Tuesday the Senate Commerce Committee will be looking into the flight disruptions at Southwest. 

The Transportation Department said Monday that it will examine whether Southwest could have controlled the cancellations and if the airline was complying with its own customer-service plan. 

Southwest has called the disruption unacceptable and said it was working to address it. 

The airline said Tuesday that to keep people from booking flights that ultimately may be canceled and to give various systems time to sync up, it removed some seats for sale on its website. Most flights scheduled for the coming days across its network are shown as unavailable to book. 

“Due to our limited schedule and large number of re-accommodations, inventory available to book flights across our network is very low, but we are still operating flights,” a spokesman said in a statement. 

Sarah Jane Graham, a 25-year-old engineer from Boston, said she was hoping to spend this week with her boyfriend in Florida. She was stranded in Nashville, Tenn., midway into her journey when her connecting flight was canceled on Monday. After failing to find other Southwest flights to Florida, she booked an American Airlines flight back to Boston for Tuesday. She and her boyfriend hope to meet up in the new year instead.

Ms. Graham checked two bags, and says she doesn’t know when she will be reunited with them. She said she spent over four hours Monday waiting in line at baggage claim, hoping to get her luggage.

When she finally made it to the front of the line, she said she was told there wasn’t enough staff to pull the luggage from the tarmac or elsewhere in the airport. The checked bags contained much of her clothing, plus Christmas presents for her boyfriend. “I do regret packing my toothbrush in there,” she joked, adding that most of her other essentials went in her carry-on.

Southwest employees told Ms. Graham that her luggage would still be flown down to Florida, she said, at which point she could request to have it returned to Boston.

She said an airline staff member told her she would need to pick up her luggage herself from Boston Logan International Airport, but the airline said in an email that customers “may choose to have baggage delivered to an address of their choosing free of charge” and that customers will be contacted over the coming days to arrange delivery.

“The Southwest team is working diligently to reunite customers with their baggage after the recent disruptions to our network,” the airline said in an email. The airline has created a section of its website for customers to request refunds and reimbursement for canceled flights and missing bags. 

Many other passengers face a similar conundrum after their travel plans were derailed by Southwest’s meltdown. Becca Webster, a 33-year-old from Nashville, was supposed to fly to Las Vegas on Monday morning with the airline to visit family and friends. While she never made it there due to flight cancellations, her luggage did. Ms. Webster has flown with Southwest in the past because, unlike most other carriers, the airline still allows passengers to check two bags free.

Ms. Webster’s checked bags contained medication and gifts. 

“All that is now 1,500 miles away, and I have no idea as to when I can get it back,” she said. She finds herself checking on the AirTags she had placed in the bags every 30 minutes or so to make sure they haven’t been taken from the airport. 

She is debating whether to try flying to Las Vegas to retrieve her bags or have a friend or family member go collect them for her.

The added confusion caused by the luggage situation with Southwest has led to more tension between passengers and airline staff. In Nashville, Ms. Webster said passengers near her grew angry as word spread that the airline couldn’t retrieve people’s luggage after flights were canceled.

“It was like a wave that gradually grew louder and louder. It was pure chaos,” she said.

On social media, users encouraged people stuck at airports due to delayed flights to look for phone numbers on the luggage tags of unclaimed bags to contact the owners to let them know where their items ended up.

—Alison Sider contributed to this article.

Write to Jacob Passy at jacob.passy@wsj.com