Southwest Airlines resumed operations in Chicago on Monday after canceling hundreds of flights the day before.
The airline grounded all remaining flights at Midway International Airport Sunday after running low on de-icing fluid for its planes. More than 250 flights were canceled, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.
"We have paused our service for the remainder of the day for the safety of our customers and crews," Southwest said in a statement. "We will continue to work with our customers on their travel plans and apologize for any inconvenience the disruption in service has caused."
Southwest received a delivery of glycol - the fluid used to de-ice planes - and expected operations to be back to "close to normal," a spokesperson said Monday.
But many of the hundreds of passengers who were stranded said it was a frustrating experience, with several even showing up at the airport because they didn’t receive an alert about the cancellations.
Some were forced to rebook flights on other airlines, while Southwest's website showed an alert Monday morning informing travelers whose flights were canceled that they're allowing flight changes without any extra fees as long as the new ticket is booked to the original destination within 14 days.
As of 6 a.m. Monday, 13 flights were canceled at Midway in total, with delays averaging less than 15 minutes, officials said.
