Never fear, our brave Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is on the case. Four days after the Southwest Airlines debacle with flight cancellations and wayward luggage began, Buttigieg came forward and vowed to hold the airline accountable. That likely is comforting absolutely no one at this point.

Thousands of flights have been cancelled, leaving flyers stranded in airports, some for days. For many of the lucky ones who have been able to get to their destinations, their luggage went elsewhere. As of 9:00 a.m. ET today, there had already been 2,770 cancellations made for flights into and out of the United States. Of that number, 2,507 are Southwest flights, according to FlightAware.

The chaos and confusion that began on December 22 isn’t over, either. There is more disruption on the way.

In all, Southwest has canceled more than 15,700 flights since winter weather began disrupting air travel on December 22. That figure includes more than 2,300 flights already canceled for Thursday. Other US airlines have since recovered from the storm disruptions.

Denver International Airport is leading the way Wednesday in the number of cancellations. At Chicago Midway and Dallas Love Field, close to half of Wednesday flights are canceled.

Southwest plans to fly a reduced schedule over the next few days to reposition crew and planes, airline CEO Bob Jordan said in a video released by the airline late Tuesday. “We’re optimistic to be back on track before next week,” Jordan said.

On the heels of wide-scale disruptions, we're working diligently to Safely recover our operation & accommodate displaced Customers & Crews. We know this is unacceptable & sincerely apologize. If your travel was impacted, explore self-service options here: https://t.co/B6L8HR9Yqc pic.twitter.com/mLWndYMned

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) December 28, 2022

The airline’s business model is built “around communities, not hubs”, which sets it apart from other airlines. Frankly, I’m surprised that this is happening with Southwest. It is known for friendly personnel, and for good customer service. At least, that is what I thought. The events of the past few days will take a while for customers to work through. By Tuesday afternoon, Southwest’s stock had plunged more than 4 percent.

Southwest Airlines stock price plunged more than 4 percent after the airline company canceled thousands of flights on Monday and Tuesday.

The public company’s stock price had fallen about 4.75 percent to $34.27 per share as of Tuesday afternoon.

Holy moly. The airlines, including Southwest Airlines, received millions and millions of American taxpayer dollars through government hand-outs to keep them afloat during the pandemic. Why weren’t staffing problems handled? Why wasn’t software used in the airline’s operations updated and made more customer-friendly? What about its aging communications system?

Sure, some of the problems can be blamed on weather. But, all the airlines have had to deal with the same weather conditions and only Southwest went off the rails so spectacularly. This catastrophe can’t be blamed on just the weather. Personnel blame the company’s communications system, too.

What exactly does Mayor Pete think he can do about all this, though? Is he going to keep an eye on customer satisfaction on ticket refunds, hotel and meal vouchers, and that sort of thing? Those are the immediate concerns for most travelers. Customers tell stories of being put on hold for two or three hours as they try to re-book a flight or find out about a refund.

I feel for the flyers but also for the employees stuck with dealing with everything going on. They received a memo with instructions that, due to the Operational Emergency, there are no excuses allowed for not showing up for work, except maybe a doctor’s note.

Is this part of your leadership team treating hard working employees like this?https://t.co/vEA7j3zNlp

— Diva (@NetskiD) December 28, 2022

Sleepy Joe finally weighed in on the subject on Tuesday, the day he headed off to St. Croix for another vacation.

Thousands of flights nationwide have been canceled around the holidays.

Our Administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable.

If you’ve been affected by cancellations, go to @USDOT’s dashboard to see if you’re entitled to compensation. https://t.co/r0YBCPyKes https://t.co/1ZdqhBOAoL

— President Biden (@POTUS) December 27, 2022

I’m not saying the president doesn’t deserve some time off but this president has spent 40% of his term in office on vacation, whether its his 3 day weekends in Delaware or off to a place like Nantucket for Thanksgiving week. His trip to St. Croix as most of the country is dealing with a major winter storm and frigid temperatures, along with all the crises he has caused in office, well, flashbacks to the criticism Senator Ted Cruz received for leaving Houston while we were trying not to die from the Big Freeze that tried to kill us all when the power grid failed came to my mind. It’s not good optics, to say the least.

Mayor Pete wants to run for president again so look for him to be grabbing the cameras for some on-air bloviating. The guy has not exactly covered himself in glory in his current position, though. He was mocked for pretending to ride his bike to work at the beginning of the administration when a video showed him taking the bike out of the back of a standard SUV and pedaling a short distance to his building. New Daddy Pete took a very generous amount of time off as paternity leave during the height of the supply chain crisis. He was also caught in making a phony video as he was overseas on vacation when the rail strike was supposed to be eminent. He tried to make it look like he was in D.C. doing his job. Pete’s more concerned about photo ops and virtue-signaling than actually doing the work.

Good luck to those flyers trying to get their luggage back.

Here’s Denver:

The current @SouthwestAir baggage situation at @DENAirport. @MarissaArmas & I with more on the #SouthwestAirlines problems – @CBSNewsColorado 10pm. pic.twitter.com/MhmWiimmfK

— Mark Neitro (@CBS4Mark) December 28, 2022

Here’s Houston:

Idk how many times I have to tell people to never check a bag. 2.5 million miles under my belt. DONT CHECK A BAG 😂 #HoustonAirport #SouthwestAirlines pic.twitter.com/FhlWyUXpgA

— Kels 🍿 (@KellySlayAnn) December 27, 2022

Good luck to this pilot.

Southwest Airlines pilot hands out coffee to delayed passengers.

“We’re trying folks” he told the crowd.

Reports like this continue to come in – pilots and staff are ready to fly, and planes are just sitting. pic.twitter.com/WjDZcThkXt

— Alex Dwyer (@AlexDwyerKS) December 28, 2022