Shorter lines, but lost luggage issues at Hobby Airport continue for Southwest Airlines

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Southwest Airlines canceled another 2,500 flights Wednesday as they work to reposition planes and crews across the country.

Since the winter storm hit last week, the airline has canceled 15,000 flights, leading to massive disruption, deemed a system-wide meltdown by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

The worst of the long lines may be over at the Southwest Airlines ticketing counter at Hobby Airport, but the confusion and chaos continue for thousands with lost luggage.

"I'm done. I'm just done. I slept in the airport for one day - a day and a half, actually. And I don't think I'll ever do Southwest again," Christina Hill said after flying into Houston from Wisconsin on Dec. 23. Her original seat was bumped on Dec. 22, and she has been without her bags ever since.

"Still don't have my luggage, and they can't find it. It's insane," she said after visiting baggage claim for the third day in a row.

"We were trapped at the airport for, like, 11 hours," Taylor Novotny said.

The Chicago native said that after their canceled flight, she and her boyfriend gave up on the airline and drove 17 hours down to Houston for the holidays without their luggage.

Southwest Airlines told them their luggage was put on another plane bound for Houston, despite their tickets being canceled.

And for the Wu family from Houston, a skiing vacation to Denver turned into a nightmare trip home.

"We couldn't find a flight to leave Denver. We couldn't find a rental car. We couldn't find a greyhound bus ticket, and we couldn't find a train ticket," Shengyan Wu said.

With no direct flights to Houston, the family flew to Albuquerque instead and then drove 14 hours to Houston, also without their bags.

"And our luggage went through. And they couldn't return our luggage. (Southwest) told us it is computerized, and it will send to the destination regardless," Wu said.

Southwest Airlines has not responded to ABC13's questions about how many bags were lost and how they ended up at airports without passengers, only sending this statement:

Our team is utilizing its standard procedures for returning baggage during irregular operations. We will make every attempt to reconnect Customers with their baggage at no cost to the Customer - we will use shipping partners to return baggage, where appropriate.

Southwest is asking customers to save all receipts for meals, hotels, and transportation if you were impacted by the system-wide meltdown. This includes possible reimbursement for flights on other airlines. You can find more information on Southwest's website.

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