hello, i m abby phillip in washington. thank you for joining us today. it is the nightmare that just won t end. southwest airlines canceling thousands more flights with airports coast to coast already packed. more than 4,800 flights today and tomorrow no longer on the books, nearly 16,000 canceled since thursday. all week we have been meeting miserable passengers and southwest says it ll be days before this all clears up. busloads of stranded customers arriving at houston hobby airport this morning, some on the road for more than 24 hours and at chicago midway, this is the sea of luggage that is finally moving. workers are now scrambling to reunite passengers with their bags. we ll begin with cnn s nick valencia at hartsfield jackson international airport in atlanta. another major connecting point for southwest nick, what is happening there behind you? reporter: yeah, hey there, abby. the line here behind me is noticeably shorter than it has been the last several days and t
hello, i m sara sidner in for victor blackwell. welcome to cnn newsroom. the southwest airline meltdown is now in its seventh day of derailing people s travel plans. since last thursday, the company has cancelled more than 15,000 flights, including 2300 set for tomorrow. flight aware finds 89% of the nation s cancellations just today belong to southwest airlines. transportation secretary pete buttigieg promises to hold the nation s largest domestic carrier accountable. but for some passengers, southwest may never be able to make up for days of delay. misplaced luggage and ruined holidays. i hate southwest. southwest, i hate them. i hate them. how did you make out? i was there from 12:00 12:00, still stranded. i need to drive nine more hours. i m upset, i m stressed, i m tired and i hate them. okay. she did not pull any punches there. cnn correspondent nick valencia is outside of hartsfield-jackson airport, the busiest in the world. nick, what are you hearing
than we have seen in past days. people don t have planes to get on. even those with a flight scheduled to take off in time, they re encountering a different set of problems. i spoke to an 11-year-old who spoke to me through tears, she was going to travel as unaccompanied minor. and because of shorta age of staff, they wasn t able to get on the plane. it s being tested here. i spoke to michelle smith, she said she s flown with southwest for over 20 years but going through what she s gone through this week, she s drawing that into question. i ve been a longtime southwest fan, 20 years, traveled a lot. this year has been a bad one, they have disappointed me? reporter: do you have a message to the ceo if he s watching? what do you say to him? fix it. fix it. he s got a lot of loyal fans and he s losing them left and right. reporter: really. there s a lot of sad stories
then i also spoke to an 11-year-old girl who had every intention and plan of getting on her on time flight today. when she got to the gate she encountered a different set of problems. i ve been a longtime southwest fan, 20 year, companion pass holder, travel a lot. this year has been a bad one. they have really disappointed me. do you have a message to the ceo if he s watching? fix it. fix it. he s got a lot of loyal fans and losing them left and right. you doing all right? you got tears in your eyes. what s going on? i didn t get to see pie best friend in florida. did they tell you you would be able to fly and then last minute they said you couldn t fly? is that what happened? yeah. reporter: so it is a mess here still. perhaps not as much of an optics of a mess as past days but very much so a headache these passengers are dealing with. just off camera i could overhear a woman on hold with the airline for more than hour finally got