In this article pertaining Southwest Airlines about to be “examined” by the Department of Transportation of the United States, 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.”
What Buttigieg Said In Response to Southwest Airlines Meltdown Debacle
What Buttigieg said first was “As travelers look to rebook due to Southwest’s cancellations, other airlines should cap fares on these routes to help people who need to get home. I’m encouraged to see several airlines have now committed to this step — all of them should.” This comment was posted to his official Twitter account as he was appearing all over the mainstream media.
As travelers look to rebook due to Southwest's cancellations, other airlines should cap fares on these routes to help people who need to get home. I'm encouraged to see several airlines have now committed to this step – all of them should.
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) December 27, 2022
Southwest Airlines needs to do everything it takes to get stranded passengers to their destinations – and cover their expenses (like meals, hotel, ground transport) in the meantime. We’ll continue to hold them accountable with all tools available to USDOT. pic.twitter.com/YEq6uCMnvD
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) December 29, 2022
Grateful for transportation workers across America who are away from their families today working through ice, wind, snow and freezing temperatures to help get people and packages where they need to be. pic.twitter.com/R2Q7QyAdXg
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) December 23, 2022
"We are past the point where they could say this is a weather-driven issue."
Secretary of Transportation @PeteButtigieg on Southwest's mass cancellations. https://t.co/SLHh3UmvFb pic.twitter.com/OPKCa1Bw1j
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 28, 2022
“What we’re seeing is something beyond what can be attributed to the weather.”
With Southwest Airlines canceling 60% of their flights both today and tomorrow, @SecretaryPete weighs in on the holiday travel nightmare and shares what he wants passengers to know. pic.twitter.com/R2f0PsgMQe
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) December 28, 2022
Southwest Airlines 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.
The following message is from the official Twitter account of the Department of Transportation:
Southwest Airlines has opened a self-service tool to help travelers impacted by their travel disruptions. If your flight has been significantly delayed or canceled, visit their website to request a refund and other services you are entitled to.
Southwest Airlines has opened a self-service tool to help travelers impacted by their travel disruptions.
If your flight has been significantly delayed or canceled, visit their website to request a refund and other services you are entitled to. https://t.co/74EUSLoNLP
— TransportationGov (@USDOT) December 28, 2022
At least 2,509 more flights which are operated by Southwest Airlines were canceled today, Wednesday, December 28, 2022 — which is approximately 61 percent of the entire flight schedule of the airline — and a minimum of 355 additional flights were delayed. 2,694 flights were canceled and 1,053 more flights were delayed with Southwest Airlines alone yesterday, Tuesday, December 27, 2022; and 2,909 flights were canceled and 777 more flights were delayed with Southwest Airlines alone on 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.
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 felt compelled to post this article only because this article from yesterday attributed Buttigieg as saying that “I’m tracking closely & will have more to say about this tomorrow.” That statement actually sounded like something interesting would come out of his mouth with regard to this issue rather than taking apparent advantage of what is known as a “photo op”…
…but alas, that was an incorrect expectation which I am sure was greatly appreciated by the thousands of people who were directly impacted by the meltdown of the operations of Southwest Airlines.
Now you know what more he had to say — but readers of The Gate not only were not fooled; but they also expected this response, which was milquetoast at best: “The worst thing than happen to SWA is some hot air from incompetent Buttedge, a strongly worded email and maybe a small fine that none of the affected passengers will see”, Rjb opined in the Comments section. “Congress could have made rules with teeth….but they never did.”
Additionally, CHRIS responded by stating that “They donate A LOT of money to the DNC. There will be no ‘enforcement’ action.”
Meanwhile, your best bet is to 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.
