Travel chaos continues as Southwest says it will only operate 1,500 flights a day until Friday

Travel chaos continued for Southwest passengers today - as the airline is now only operating 1,500 flights a day until Friday and some travelers won't be able to get home for at least six days. 

Desperate passengers were forced to sleep in terminals surrounded by mounds of luggage after Southwest canceled over 70 percent of its flight schedule on Monday.

The airline has already canceled 62 percent today, 61 percent tomorrow, and 12 percent on Friday - nearly 5,650 flights - after it stalled allowing passengers to book or rebook flights. 

Of the nearly 3,000 flights canceled today, Southwest made up 2,566 of them, canceling 60 percent more flights than the next leading major airlines, United and JetBlue, which only canceled two percent of its flights today. American Airlines has canceled zero percent today.  

Some passengers have already been told they won't get a flight out for six days and others are stranded in airports and are unable to rent a vehicle home and with no help from Southwest employees. 

'They said: "No one is getting on a Southwest flight for four days and we can't help you go home,"' Southwest passenger Kara Dyrek told Good Morning America (GMA). 

The Dallas-based airline will only be operating 1,500 flights per day through Friday, or roughly a third of its schedule, according to David Slotnick, an airline business reporter. 

Southwest also plans to 'zero-out inventory, making it so people can't buy or rebook onto flights that may eventually be canceled,' the reporter said. 

'Zeroing inventory means that customer service agents won’t be able to rebook passengers onto new flights for a few days, until the network is partially fixed and cancellations are finalized,' Slotnick wrote on Twitter. 

One passenger said they had to rebook on a first-class ticket on a separate airline to make it home and their luggage is still tied up with Southwest, including their medications. 

'Stop blaming the WEATHER!' Grey DeLisle wrote on Twitter. 'Had to buy a first-class ticket on another airline, but it TOOK OFF ON TIME! You have our luggage with medication inside! Can't get through the phone! Holding for hours since Christmas Eve only to be disconnected. Dad missed Xmas!' 

Another said they've been trapped at an airport for 34 hours in Las Vegas. 'I am beyond upset,' Sammy Mowrey wrote on Twitter. 

Plenty of photos of overcrowded baggage claim carousals have popped up on the internet, showing hundreds of bags going unclaimed and many passengers saying Southwest has not designated someone to help customers sort through the mounds of luggage. 

'No one around to assist,' one frustrated passenger tweeted. 'Never seen anything like this.'  

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has opened an investigation into the airline to look into its high-volume cancelations, saying it was 'concerned by Southwest Airlines' disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays.' 

'As more information becomes available the Department will closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan as well as all other pertinent DOT rules,' the government agency said in a statement. 

Southwest has chartered buses for some passengers to get some places, including one from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Nashville, Tennessee - a journey of 500 miles. 

In addition, customer service lines at the airport are up to 'five' hours long and some are being told there's nothing they can do.  

'It's a four- to five-hour line...before they can get us on a flight - if they can get us on a flight,' Michael Bauzon, who is traveling with his family from Orlando to Indianapolis told CBS News.

'It's been hell,' another Southwest passenger Denzil Smother told CBS News.  

In more bad news for Southwest passengers, those with New Year flight plans could face another nightmare.  

'We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period. And we're working to reach out to customers whose travel plans will change with specific information and their available options,' Southwest told CBS News in a statement. 

Southwest also told Good Morning America that it 'recognized' that it had 'fallen short and sincerely apologize.'  

'I think it's just the sheer size of the storm, the fact that this one started west [and] swept east and impacted almost every single one of our largest airports. That put us in a position where we struggled to recover,' Jay McVay, a spokesperson for the airline, said. 

'As the storm continued to sweep across the country, it continued to impact many of our larger stations and so the cancellations just compiled one after another to 100 to 150 to 1,000,' he said. 

'With those cancellations and as a result, we end up with flight crews and airplanes that are out of place and not in the cities that they need to be in to continue to run our operations.

'We will do everything that we need to do to right the challenges that we've had right now,' he said, including 'hotels, ride assistance, vans...rental cars to try and make sure these folks get home as quickly as possible.'

More than 3,800 US flights were canceled on Monday, including 2,800 operated by Southwest. Delays were reported for more than 7,100 US flight departures and arrivals overall. 

On Christmas Day, the operator canceled 42 percent of its flights, a total of 1,635.  

Southwest Airline flights at Hollywood Burbank, Phoenix Sky Harbor International, and San Diego Airport have virtually all been canceled, according to reports. 

It is anticipated that the disruption could continue into the New Year holiday travel period at the end of this week, with some reports suggesting that all flights from Hollywood Burbank Airport operated by the airline are canceled until December 31.  

The volume of cancelations and delays by Southwest was led by the extreme weather, caused by an Arctic blast coupled with a massive winter storm called Elliott sweeping over much of the US, and a lacked of preparedness by the airline. 

Southwest has a hub of planes in Chicago and Denver, but both of those areas were significantly affected by the storm, which led to planes freezing.

Thousands of people were left stranded inside the airport on Friday and all the hotels nearby are fully booked. The runways at the airport reopened on the same day.

Photos showed travelers with blankets as they slept on chairs and other open areas. 

Many would-be passengers have taken to Twitter to share their frustration. 

One said: 'Two days, two cancelled flights, no notifications, no way to contact through web, phone or email. Family of four missed San Diego holiday and family. Southwest continues to blame the weather. All other airlines made it.' 

Another added that they were 'praying for a miracle' after a family member's flight to her daughter's wedding was canceled. 

And another said: 'I had a six-hour drive, waited an hour for my rental car. Southwest I am highly disappointed in you. I might be done with you after this.' 

Many who have tried to reach the airline on the phone have been waiting on hold for several hours in the hope of speaking with a member of staff. 

One person tweeted: 'I've been on hold for four hours to try and get a refund,' while others have reported wait times of up to six hours on the phone. People have also shared videos of long lines at airports across the country and images of mounds of luggage.

Union representatives claimed that flight attendants and other crew members are stuck in different states across the US after a series of cancellations. 

The airline doesn't have their precise locations since stranded workers took matters into their own hands and booked their own accommodations when the company failed to help in a timely manner. 

'We have crews stuck, and scheduling doesn't know where they are,' Casey Murray, a union representative for the airlines said. 

The CEO Bob Jordan confirmed that the company's scheduling platforms are not advanced enough for the current crisis.  

Jordan told employees earlier this week that it could take days for the airline to resume normal operations.

'The winter storm was unprecedented all across our network,' Jordan said in a statement obtained by the Wall Street Journal. 'And we've got fallout from that — just trying to get the network back to normal.' 

In a statement, the Dallas-based airline cited 'consecutive days of extreme winter weather' as the culprit.

'Challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a significant way that is unacceptable,' the statement read. 

Delta airlines is the second US-based major airline with the most cancellations. About 484 cancelations were reported by the airline on Monday and an additional 570 delays. 

Airports in Denver, Atlanta, Chicago and Las Vegas are facing the most cancellations  and delays. 

Tens of thousands of Americans have been affected over the past week. Passengers have been forced to sleep on the floor as some airports closed their runways 'indefinitely,' including in Seattle-Tacoma where a storm hit on December 23.

A continuous winter storm continues to envelop much of the United States, bringing record-breaking low temperatures for 200million Americans, blinding blizzards, freezing rain and flooding.

The storm that arrived last week stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the Mexican border. 

In response to the inclement weather, President Joe Biden said: 'This is a really serious weather alert. Please take this storm extremely seriously.'

The NWS warned: 'In some areas, being outdoors could lead to frostbite in minutes.'

MailOnline has contacted Southwest Airlines and Hollywood Burbank Airport for comment.