Southwest says it plans to restore a normal flight schedule on Friday

The couple obtained vouchers from Southwest to stay in a hotel that night, and booked online from Baltimore Airport a rental car they planned to fly back to Orlando. But when they went to pick up the car, it wasn’t available. Eventually, Mrs. Benitez’s brother, whom they were visiting in Virginia, found a rental car there, picked them up from Baltimore, and dropped them off at the rental agency in Virginia.

Mrs. Benitez and her husband said they drove 12 hours back to Orlando and got home on Tuesday, finally opening their Christmas presents. She said Southwest “gave us vouchers, but that can’t make up for lost time, joy, or Christmas spirit.”

Despite the chaos of the past few days, Jason Mudd, CEO of Axia Public Relations, which has been helping businesses, said Southwest can get back to normal, in part because it has generated so much goodwill among loyal customers over its storied history. for five decades. Having crises but not having Southwest as a client.

“Usually we hear about another airline or another brand in the industry experiencing very severe delays and cancellations,” said Mr Mudd. “Southwest tends to be pretty reliable, or at least has a reputation for being very reliable and very efficient on time.”

Mr Maude was killed Tylenol poisoning in 1982, when someone put potassium cyanide in super-strong Tylenol, which caused seven deaths in Chicago and led to other similar attacks. Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of the Tylenol manufacturer, has responded by adding new safety features to its bottles.

“When done well, organizations will outpace their profits and do the right thing,” Mudd said. “In that case, that’s what I count on Southwest to do.”

Southwest’s share price closed up about 4 percent Thursday after the company’s announcement.