Now that they have figured out how to staff and fly airplanes again per their advertised schedule the big problem now and in the coming weeks is the luggage situation.

Now, Southwest has in many cases held people's luggage for days. Typically when luggage is delayed you are entitled to reasonable compensation to purchase items needed that were in your checked bag that you were unable to gain access to.

Anyone who has had their bag delayed needs to do an exact inventory of what was in their bag as best as they can remember, then file the claim for the cost to replace the items there that needed immediate replacement. It is very important to do the claim based on exact inventory because once Southwest finds your bag, they will look at it, and compare your claim to what was in the bag, and if you lied to them (you know, said you had in there a $500 dress and a bunch of cosmetics worth $1,000 that you needed for "work" that week, and then really only had in there some simple pants, casual shirts, and $50 worth of drugstore cosmetics) they will claw back/deny your claim. Don't even try this; I had a friend do this and they eventually found her bag, compared its contents to her bloated claim, and it did not go well for her after that.

Of course if the bag is lost entirely you are entitled to the maximum $3,800 compensation per Federal law. But I think ultimately few bags will be "lost" - the main scenario I see here is MANY bags will be severely delayed.

It would be nice if there was a daily compensation made for each day a lost bag is still... lost... but Southwest does not seem to spell out such a benefit and US DOT/US Laws do not seem to provide explicitly such a benefit. Historically when luggage has been delayed my experience with Southwest has been they will deliver it to your location (I highly suggest NOT using this "service") or you can return to the airport to pick it up and they'll throw you a voucher for the inconvenience ($100-$150).

But for every day extra your bag is not returned to you, logically, you would need more and more of the bag's contents with each passing day. So I do not think after a week or so it would be unreasonable to replace all of the bag's contents as after such a time period you have no clue if the bag is really coming back to you or not. As such the claims for the delayed luggage I suspect are going to be nearly as large as a lost luggage claim would be.

Itemize itemize itemize.