COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thousands of flights have been delayed and canceled this holiday season, and the headaches haven’t gone away yet.

What You Need To Know

  • Southwest experienced a 62% cancelation rate on Tuesday

  • The U.S. Department of Transportation stated they would examine Southwest cancelations

  • Thousands are still awaiting their luggage

  • Many airlines are experiencing delays and canceled flights 

While many were relieved to claim their bags at the Columbus John Glenn International Airport, many were still waiting to receive their luggage. Beth Powell touched down on Christmas Eve, but her bags didn’t arrive until late that night. With the icy roads and cold weather, Powell didn’t have a chance to pick up her bags until Tuesday afternoon.

"There was a big, long line, and I waited for about an hour in a line just to talk to somebody and that's when he told me that they couldn't get the bags on the flight from St. Louis to Columbus,” said Powell. “They put the bags on a flight that will get to Columbus but it was going to Florida first.”

Columbus John Glenn International Airport is housing hundreds of bags because of delays, cancelations and understaffing. Southwest's cancelation rate was 62% as of Tuesday morning, according to flight tracking website, flightaware.com. The U.S. Department of Transportation stated they would examine whether Southwest's cancelations were controllable and if they were complying with its customer service plan. In a statement from the southwest team, they apologized to customers experiencing delays.

“While we can’t always predict the challenges brought about by the busy holiday travel season, we apologize that the irregular operations may have interrupted your travel plans,” said Southwest Airlines in a statement. 

American, United, Delta and JetBlue all suffered cancelations. One family has been trying to get to Ohio from New York since Christmas Eve, but experienced canceled flight after canceled flight.

“Just trying to manage disappointment and expectations has been really hard and trying to keep focused on staying optimistic and keeping the faith that we will get there even if we're late,” said one traveler. “I'm happy to be here. We're just relieved and finally made it.”

Flight cancelations will be an issue that will most likely carry into Wednesday and beyond with the hope of being back on track by the New Year.

“The totality of our operation has been affected over the past few days and will continue to be for a few days to come, “said Southwest in a statement sent to Spectrum News. “Baggage is certainly one of those things that is difficult to recover in the immediate aftermath of an operational disruption. While we don’t have figures to share on disruptions across our network or at specific airports where we operate, we have made the decision to continue operating a reduced schedule by flying roughly one third of our schedule for the next several days.”