The Department of Transportation of the United States will examine Southwest Airlines, which is currently suffering a meltdown of its operations throughout its system as a result of both the lingering effects of the winter storms and problems with connecting members of flight crews to their schedules, as that issue resulted in difficulty for employees of the airline to access crew scheduling services and get reassignments.
Government Examination on Southwest Airlines To Begin
The following message is from the official Twitter account of the Department of Transportation…
USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service. The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.
— TransportationGov (@USDOT) December 27, 2022
USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service. The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.
…as well as a link to the official customer service plan of Southwest Airlines.
You can read Southwest’s customer service plan here: https://t.co/2vmG9v9nK5
— TransportationGov (@USDOT) December 27, 2022
At least 2,600 more flights which are operated by Southwest Airlines were canceled today, Tuesday, December 27, 2022 — which is approximately 63 percent of the entire flight schedule of the airline — and almost 800 additional flights were delayed. 2,909 flights were canceled and 777 more flights were delayed with Southwest Airlines alone yesterday, Monday, December 26, 2022.
Although other airlines that have experienced their share of irregular operations due to the weather, Southwest Airlines was significantly worse than any of them.
Pete Buttigieg — who is the current secretary of transportation of the United States — posted at his official Twitter account that “I’m tracking closely & will have more to say about this tomorrow.”
I’m tracking closely & will have more to say about this tomorrow. https://t.co/qIRh9ymusT
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) December 27, 2022
Even the president of the United States is getting involved in this issue. This is what Joseph Biden had to say at his official Twitter account:
Thousands of flights nationwide have been canceled around the holidays.
Our Administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable.
If you’ve been affected by cancellations, go to @USDOT’s dashboard to see if you’re entitled to compensation. https://t.co/r0YBCPyKes https://t.co/1ZdqhBOAoL
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 27, 2022
Thousands of flights nationwide have been canceled around the holidays. Our Administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable. If you’ve been affected by cancellations, go to @USDOT’s dashboard to see if you’re entitled to compensation. www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-customer-service-dashboard
Among the travel alerts which were listed in this article here at The Gate pertaining to the recent spate of historic winter weather this past week was one from Southwest Airlines that was never posted before at The Gate in its history of 16.5 years:
Southwest Airlines has issued travel alerts for all airports which the airline serves throughout its system through Tuesday, December 27, 2022; and Tuesday, January 10, 2023 is the last day on which tickets must be reissued and rebooked travel must begin.
That was a key indicator that more was wrong with the operations of the airline than just weather.
The airline hopes to stabilize and improve its operation as more favorable weather conditions are forecast to arrive later this week. In the meantime, travel advisories are currently in effect systemwide for:
- Irregular Operations through Monday, January 2, 2023; and Monday, January 16, 2023 is the last day on which tickets must be reissued and rebooked travel must begin.
- High Call Volumes and Busy Signals — Due to the very high demand from the winter weather, hold times are currently averaging greater than two hours and have been as high as four hours.
Southwest Airlines is the fourth largest airline in the United States; but the airline actually is the largest carrier in the United States in terms of domestic flights…
…and as a result of all of those cancellations and delays, thousands of passengers and their luggage are delayed or stranded all over the United States — some of them for as many as five days — as illustrated by the torrent of content which has been posted on various channels of social media by passengers who were affected or impacted by the irregular operations:
Final Boarding Call
I am not sure how much intervention by the government will help — if at all…
…and it certainly would come too late for thousands of passengers who not only missed being with family and friends for the holidays; but are also stranded in one location with their luggage in another location.
Southwest Airlines will not escape or recover from this inexcusable mess overnight — nor will it emerged with its reputation unscathed, as many customers vowed never to fly as passengers of the airline again after this experience.
Avoid Southwest Airlines at this time for at least the next several days — if not through the end of the year. If you are ticketed as a passenger on the airline this week and next week, monitor the situation and keep yourself updated so that neither you nor your luggage get stranded unnecessarily.
All photographs ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
