4/10/2023 0 Comments Southwest airlines problems todaySouthwest, however, has a “point to point” network in which planes crisscross the country during the day. That helps limit the reach of disruptions caused by bad weather in part of the country. airlines use “hub and spoke” networks in which flights radiate out from a few major or hub airports. Leaders of Southwest’s labor unions have warned for years that the airline’s crew-scheduling system, which dates to the 1990s, was inadequate, and the CEO acknowledged this week that the technology needs to be upgraded. Separately, two other Senate Democrats called on Southwest to provide “significant” compensation for stranded travelers, saying that the airline has the money because it plans to pay $428 million in dividends next month. In Congress, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee also promised an investigation. “They need to make sure that those stranded passengers get to where they need to go and that they are provided adequate compensation,” including for missed flights, hotels and meals, he said Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He vowed to hold the airline accountable and push it to reimburse travelers. He noted that while cancellations across the rest of the industry declined to about 4% of scheduled flights, they remained above 60% at Southwest.įrom the high rate of cancellations to customers’ inability to reach Southwest on the phone, the airline’s performance has been unacceptable, Buttigieg said. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has criticized airlines for previous disruptions, said that “meltdown” was the only word he could think of to describe this week’s events at Southwest. “For now, I want you to know that we are committed to that.” “We have some real work to do in making this right,” said Jordan, a 34-year Southwest veteran who became CEO in February. He said Southwest’s tools for recovering from disruptions work “99% of the time, but clearly we need to double down” on upgrading systems to avoid a repeat of this week. Jordan blamed the winter storm for snarling the airline’s “highly complex” network. 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 “back on track before next week.” The federal government is now investigating what happened at Southwest, which carries more passengers within the United States than any other airline. Those weaknesses are not new - they helped cause a similar failure by Southwest in October 2021. 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. Other airlines recovered from ferocious winter storms that hit large swaths of the country over the weekend, but not Southwest. were on Southwest, according to the FlightAware tracking service. “I’m starting to feel homeless.”īy late morning on the East Coast, about 90% of all canceled flights Wednesday in the U.S. WATCH: Buttigieg calls for accountability as Southwest cancellation ‘meltdown’ worsensĪdontis Barber, a 34-year-old jazz pianist from Kansas City, Missouri, had camped out in the city’s airport since his Southwest flight was canceled Saturday and wondered if he would ever get to a New Year’s gig in Washington, D.C. The airline’s CEO said it could be next week before the flight schedule returns to normal. DALLAS (AP) - Travelers who counted on Southwest Airlines to get them home suffered through 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’s meltdown.Įxhausted Southwest travelers tried finding seats on other airlines or renting cars to get to their destination, but many remained stranded.
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