Southwest passenger in Chicago still waiting for luggage from canceled flight

CHICAGO — Southwest Airlines flights are on-time and planes are flying again, some passengers are still looking for their luggage after thousands of flights were canceled.

Jerry Scheffers tried to fly to Ohama, Nebraska with his wife on Dec. 26 to visit their grandkids, but their trip never happened.

“I went out and looked on the board and there I saw it was canceled,” Scheffers said. “Never was nothing on the app that said it was canceled.”

While Scheffers didn’t get on his flight to Omaha, his luggage did.

“It’s their policy. They fly to their destination no matter what and then they gotta call them back from your destination to get them back to Midway,” he said.

He only checked one bag, but there were important items packed.

“My wife’s custom ankle bracelet she needs for her MS,” Scheffers said. “There were toiletries in there. We were smart enough not to put her medications in there.”

Scheffers describes the process of retrieving his bag as a nightmare. For the last 10 days, he has called customer service every day.

He believes his persistence finally paid off because a representative informed him that his bag is getting shipped back to his home in Chicago by Wednesday.

“I think only because I mentioned my wife’s MS that it prompted them to move a little faster cause I don’t know how they’re prioritizing any of this,” Scheffers said.

Lost luggage is just one of the many issues affected travelers are still dealing with amid the Southwest cancelations over the holidays.

A spokesperson for the airline said many bags have been reunited.

“While we don’t have any numbers to share publicly, we are making significant progress on this thanks to our people and hope to have bags back to customers very soon,” Chris Perry, a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines said.

Perry said the airline is trying to repair its relationship with customers by giving 25,000 frequent flyer points to impacted people.