Southwest Airlines is popular, according to J.D. Power's annual ranking of U.S. airlines. Last May, the consumer research organization ranked Southwest
Southwest remains popular despite leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded over the Christmas holiday weekend, analysts say.
"People think you're getting great value for the money," said J.D. Power travel, hotel, and retail managing director Michael Taylor.
"The pilots are funny, the flight attendants are funny," added he. "They really make it seem like they want to fly with you."
Southwest is processing refunds and reimbursements after canceling over 15,000 flights during a huge winter storm that caused
staffing concerns and swamped its rerouting system. On Tuesday, the airline offered 25,000 rewards points to affected passengers.
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan, who took over last February, said the company is fixing the issues that caused the frequent cancellations.
In a note to investors, Bank of America research analyst Andrew Didora estimated that Southwest could take a $700 million financial
hit for the December quarter, which analysts projected would generate more than $6 billion in revenues. In response, Didora cut his quarterly