Secretary Buttigieg: Gov't Will Hold Southwest Airlines Accountable
Airline canceled thousands of flights, stranding passengers
The Biden administration will hold Southwest Airlines accountable for canceling more than 5,000 flights in fewer than 48 hours, causing a full-blown “meltdown,” according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Southwest canceled more than 2,900 flights Monday — at least 70 percent of its schedule for the day — and more than 2,500 flights Tuesday as of 9:10 a.m. ET — at least 60 percent of its schedule, according to flight tracker FlightAware. The disruptions add to chaos that has left people stranded at airports across the country, many of them with little idea of when they can get home or where their bags are.
The number of canceled flights for Southwest Monday was more than 10 times higher than for Delta — which had the second-most cancellations by a U.S. airline with 265 flights called off — due to the same holiday weekend winter storm.
Buttigieg said that he's already gotten involved to hold Southwest responsible.
"Well, over the course of the last year, as you know, we've seen a number of issues with the different airlines, and in the summer in particular we pressed them to improve their standard of customer service. They provided commitments in writing, including Southwest, that they would go above the previous level of what you would do to take care of customers with things like covering the cost if you get stuck and you need a hotel or a meal, in addition to re-booking you to get you on your way,” he said. “Now that we have those commitments that were made to us over the summer, we're going to be using that as a tool to hold them accountable.
“And I made that clear to Southwest leadership. The CEO pledged to me that they will not only meet, but they will exceed, the customer service standards and commitments that they have made to us in the past and that we're in a position to enforce,” the secretary added, in an on-camera interview with CNN. “I also talked with union leadership from the pilots and from the flight attendants. They've made clear that they have been raising the alarm about these issues in their systems for some time, and that this really has to do with decisions and choices in terms of the investments that this airline has made or has failed to make over the years that seem to be catching up to them now.“
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