The Dallas-based airline has canceled more flights than any other airline during the holidays, prompting federal investigators to ask why.
A Southwest Airlines jet on the tarmac at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in 2020. Southwest is struggling to stabilize its operations after a winter storm caused a backlog in travel, mass flight cancellations and delays at major airports. CreDallas-based Southwest Airlines faces a federal investigation into whether it violated its own legally required customer service plan amid a blizzard of flight cancellations that ruined plans and angered travelers over the Christmas holiday.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted shortly after that he was "tracking [the issue] closely" and would have more to say about this Tuesday. Mike Santoro, vice president of the pilots union for the airline, told CNN the core of the issue was an outdated scheduling system that was already overwhelmed before the storm became the catalyst for the current problems. Those technology problems, he said, have left pilots and crews stranded in cities across the country looking for accommodations, unable to get through to airline officials to find out where they — or the planes they’re scheduled to staff — are supposed to be.
The carrier has already canceled 62% of its flights for Wednesday — accounting for all but 33 of more than 2,500 canceled U.S. flights that day.Southwest officials issued "heartfelt apologies" Monday that they said were "just beginning" as challenges they also described as "unacceptable" are expected to continue this week.
The chaos left some travelers sleeping on airport floors, waiting for hours in lines and overwhelming hotels in the scramble to find last-minute accommodations.
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