Travelers at Baltimore Washington International airport deal with the impact of Southwest Airlines canceling more than 12,000 flights around the Christmas holiday weekend across the country and in Baltimore, Maryland, December 27, 2022.
Southwest Airlines confirmed on Thursday that it expects to run a normal schedule on Friday after the carrier's systemwide meltdown stranded hundreds of thousands of customers over the Christmas holiday week and drew scrutiny from Washington.
Southwest's operation unraveled over the holiday week after brutal winter weather swept across the U.S.
"We have much work ahead of us, including investing in new solutions to manage wide-scale disruptions," Southwest said in its statement.
Some competitors said they would cap fares for certain cities to help stranded Southwest passengers reach their destinations without surging prices, but fare searches on Thursday still returned some flights for $600 or more.