Southwest Airlines Executive Vice President Bob Jordan speaks as he’s interviewed by CNBC outdoors the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 9, 2021.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Fifteen senators, together with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, despatched a letter to Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan this week demanding solutions in regards to the airline’s administration of 2022 vacation journey disruptions, which left hundreds of passengers stranded in airports.
The questions push for particulars in regards to the causes of the meltdown, together with Southwest’s overloaded crew scheduling software program that buckled from all of the flight adjustments. The mass cancellations got here alongside extreme winter climate throughout the U.S. and elevated vacation journey demand, which compelled U.S. airways to cancel hundreds of flights.
When different airways recovered from the storm, Southwest’s issues bought worse. It canceled a lot of its schedule to attempt to reset its operation, spoiling the journey plans of lots of of hundreds of consumers.
“Although winter storm Elliott disrupted flights across the country, every other airline operating in the United States managed to return to a regular flight schedule shortly thereafter — except Southwest,” the letter despatched Thursday reads.
The airline canceled practically 17,000 flights between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The firm projected the meltdown would price it between $725 million and $825 million within the fourth quarter.
“We appreciate the concerns expressed in the letter from the Senators and share in the commitment to ensuring Southwest’s Customers are properly cared for and that actions are taken to mitigate risks of this happening again,” Southwest stated in an announcement. “We hope the recent refunds, reimbursements of expenses, and goodwill gestures to our Customers and Employees demonstrate that we want to go above and beyond in earning their trust once again.”
The senators additionally requested the airline for particulars on compensating affected passengers through ticket refunds, returning misplaced baggage and reimbursements for alternate journey preparations made within the wake of Southwest cancellations.
Southwest is nonetheless within the means of reviewing requests for reimbursement and refunds from impacted clients.
The senators’ letter additionally highlights Southwest’s use of funds, claiming it uncared for to replace companywide techniques which have lengthy been outdated.
“Southwest has long known that its software was outdated, and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association had warned that such a debacle was inevitable unless Southwest invested in new scheduling systems,” the letter says. “Instead of making those investments, Southwest distributed over $1.8 billion in dividends to its shareholders and bought back over $11 billion in its shares between 2011 and 2020.”
Sanders beforehand bashed Southwest on Twitter for its “corporate greed,” noting the airline used $5.6 billion of its $7 billion in Covid aid on inventory buybacks for shareholders slightly than investing in its inner infrastructure.
The senators are giving Jordan till Feb. 2 to reply to their questions.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has already stated she plans to carry a listening to on Southwest’s meltdown.
— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
Correction: The senators despatched the letter to Southwest on Thursday. An earlier model misstated the day.