Southwest admits major failure as Congress grills airline over mass flight cancellations
Cami Mondeaux
Video Embed
Top executives for Southwest Airlines apologized for the operational failures that left customers stranded nationwide in December, acknowledging company leaders failed to prepare for winter storm conditions that caused thousands of flight delays and cancellations.
Southwest officials testified before the Senate on Thursday as lawmakers pressed the airline on how the mass cancellations occurred and what plans are being implemented to prevent future disruptions.
Casey Murray, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association‘s president, identified three reasons that caused the disruptions, noting company leaders failed to listen to warnings from pilots who voiced concerns they would not be able to handle the travel demand.
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES REPORTS $800 MILLION LOSS OVER HOLIDAY SEASON DISASTER
“Unfortunately, despite many opportunities, Southwest Airlines management did not listen to its pilots and front-line employees who saw this meltdown,” Murray told the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. “Much has been made of Southwest shortcomings in IT and technology. And while that is a causal factor in this failure, that explanation alone misses the underlying issue.”
The hearing comes after severe winter weather conditions prompted several airlines to delay or cancel flights during the last two weeks of December. Although other airlines experienced a disruption to their operations, none were as affected as Southwest — prompting the Department of Transportation to open an investigation into the airline’s operational performance.
Southwest canceled more than 4,500 flights on Dec. 25 and Dec. 26 due to weather conditions, prompting the airline to initiate a systemwide “reset” that led to thousands of more flight cancellations the next week. Overall, nearly 17,000 Southwest flights were canceled over the holiday week, with thousands more delayed during the same time frame.
“So why did this happen? We’ll be clear. We messed up,” Andrew Watterson, Southwest’s chief operating officer, told the committee. “In hindsight, we did not have enough winter operations.”
Southwest officials have since begun implementing organizational changes to make its operations more “resilient,” according to Watterson. Part of this includes an increase in staffing that will allow the airline to respond to future disruptions as well as upgrading the airline’s technology.
“It was a cascade of events that ultimately caused the failure,” Murray said. “Our operations agents who have a front row to our customers and board our airplanes weren’t sure what was going on, nor could they get answers. So, it was a failure epically from top to bottom.”
The hearing on Thursday is expected to be the first of several as lawmakers seek to investigate the mass cancellations and press the airline to prevent similar disruptions in the future. Lawmakers also criticized the Transportation Department during the hearing, arguing officials have not adequately penalized airlines for the flight disruptions.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Notably absent from today’s meeting is Secretary [Pete] Buttigieg,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “The DOT didn’t give any mea culpa to impacted travelers. The Biden DOT didn’t issue refunds, didn’t issue reimbursements, it just screwed up their flights and then proceeded to say, ‘We want to be in charge of how the airlines behave.'”
Buttigieg has come under fire in recent months for the Transportation Department’s response to the mass cancellations, with several Republicans arguing he failed to heed warnings about travel demand ahead of the winter storm disruptions.