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Travelers who counted on Southwest Airlines to get them home suffered another wave of canceled flights Wednesday, and pressure grew on the federal government to help customers get reimbursed for unexpected expenses they incurred because of the airline鈥檚 meltdown.

Exhausted Southwest travelers tried finding seats on other airlines or renting cars to get to their destination, but many remained stranded. The airline鈥檚 CEO said it could be next week before the flight schedule returns to normal.

Adontis Barber, a jazz pianist from Kansas City, Missouri, had camped out in the city鈥檚 airport since his Southwest flight was canceled Saturday and wondered if he would ever get to a New Year鈥檚 gig in Washington, D.C.

鈥淚 give up,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 starting to feel homeless.鈥�

By early afternoon on the East Coast, about 90% of all canceled flights Wednesday in the U.S. were on Southwest, according to the FlightAware tracking service.

Other airlines recovered from ferocious winter storms that hit large swaths of the country over the weekend, but not Southwest, which scrubbed 2,500 flights Wednesday and 2,300 more on Thursday.

The Dallas airline was undone by a combination of factors including an antiquated crew-scheduling system and a network design that allows cancellations in one region to cascade throughout the country rapidly. Those weaknesses are not new 鈥� they helped cause a similar failure by Southwest in October 2021.

The federal government is now investigating what happened at Southwest, which carries more passengers within the United States than any other airline.

In a video that Southwest posted late Tuesday, CEO Robert Jordan said Southwest would operate a reduced schedule for several days but hoped to be 鈥渂ack on track before next week.鈥�

Mr. Jordan blamed the winter storm for snarling the airline鈥檚 鈥渉ighly complex鈥� network. He said Southwest鈥檚 tools for recovering from disruptions work 鈥�99% of the time, but clearly we need to double down鈥� on upgrading systems to avoid a repeat of this week.

鈥淲e have some real work to do in making this right,鈥� said Mr. Jordan, a Southwest veteran who became CEO in February. 鈥淔or now, I want you to know that we are committed to that.鈥�

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has criticized airlines for previous disruptions, said that 鈥渕eltdown鈥� was the only word he could think of to describe this week鈥檚 events at Southwest. He noted that while cancellations across the rest of the industry declined to about 4% of scheduled flights, they remained above 60% at Southwest.

From the high rate of cancellations to customers鈥� inability to reach Southwest on the phone, the airline鈥檚 performance has been unacceptable, Secretary Buttigieg said. He vowed to hold the airline accountable and push it to reimburse travelers.

鈥淭hey need to make sure that those stranded passengers get to where they need to go and that they are provided adequate compensation,鈥� including for missed flights, hotels, and meals, he said Wednesday on ABC鈥檚 鈥淕ood Morning America.鈥�

On its website, Southwest told customers affected by canceled or delayed flights between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2 to submit receipts. The airline said, 鈥淲e will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation.鈥�

Navy physician Lt. Cmdr. Manoj Mathew said after spending hours on hold over two days Southwest reimbursed him for the first leg of his family鈥檚 trip from Washington to Houston 鈥� they drove through terrible weather after the Dec. 23 flight was canceled. Now he is worried whether Southwest will operate the return flight Sunday.

鈥淚鈥檓 trying to reach other airlines,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are no flights, plus it鈥檚 very expensive for us.鈥�

Leaders of Southwest鈥檚 labor unions have warned for years that the airline鈥檚 crew-scheduling system, which dates to the 1990s, was inadequate, and the CEO acknowledged this week that the technology needs to be upgraded.

The other large U.S. airlines use 鈥渉ub and spoke鈥� networks in which flights radiate out from a few major or hub airports. That helps limit the reach of disruptions caused by bad weather in part of the country.

Southwest, however, has a 鈥減oint to point鈥� network in which planes crisscross the country during the day. This can increase the utilization and efficiency of each plane, but problems in one place can ripple across the country and leave crews trapped out of position.

Those issues don鈥檛 explain all the complaints that stranded travelers made about Southwest, including no ability to reach the airline on the phone and a lack of help with hotels and meals.

Teal Williams, an active-duty Army reservist from Utah, was stuck at the Denver airport with her husband and two teenage kids on Christmas Day after their flight to Des Moines, Iowa, was canceled. She said Southwest employees had no information about flights and didn鈥檛 offer food vouchers while elderly passengers sat in wheelchairs for hours and mothers ran out of formula for their infants.

鈥淚t was just imploding, and no one could tell you anything,鈥� Ms. Williams said. The airline employees 鈥渨ere desperately trying to help, but you could tell they were just as clueless as everybody else ... it was scary.鈥�

Unable to find plane, train, or bus seats, Williams and her family felt lucky to score a rental car. They drove 12 hours to Iowa.

Mr. Barber, the musician from Kansas City, already missed a performance Sunday in Dallas but had hoped to make it to Washington in time for a New Year鈥檚 performance near the National Mall.

鈥淚鈥檓 missing out on money,鈥� he lamented.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.