DOT ‘Ready To Take Action To Hold Southwest Accountable’ Over Thousands of Cancellations

The U.S. Department of Transportation is ready to “take action to hold Southwest accountable if it fails to fulfill its obligations” to passengers after the carrier canceled more than 10,000 flights during the last week and signaled that more disruptions would be coming in the days to come.

After the Transportation Department said Monday that it would “examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan,” the agency said that Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke with Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan Tuesday, the latest Washington, D.C., official to take aim at the carrier over unfolding delays and cancellations at the critical Christmas travel period.

“This afternoon, Secretary Buttigieg spoke with the CEO of Southwest Airlines and conveyed that he expects the airline to live up to the commitments it has made to passengers, including providing meal vouchers, refunds and hotel accommodations for those experiencing significant delays or cancellations that came about as a result of Southwest’s decisions and actions,” said U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson said in a statement.

“The department will take action to hold Southwest accountable if it fails to fulfill its obligations, and we will stay engaged with Southwest Airlines to make sure the airline does not allow a situation like this to happen again.”

Southwest has blamed the thousands of cancellations and stranded passengers on bad weather last week at key airports such as Denver and Chicago Midway along with a failure of its technology systems to accommodate flight attendants and pilots.

Earlier Tuesday, President Biden’s Twitter account said that “Our administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable.”

Meanwhile, key U.S. Senators on the Commerce Committee, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), called out Dallas-based Southwest Airlines and said the company “should compensate passengers accordingly.”

“Southwest Airlines is failing consumers during the most important travel week of the year,” the senators said in a joint statement. “Instead of a holiday spent celebrating with family and friends, passengers are sleeping in airports or desperately trying to reach customer service agents. For those travelers whose holidays have been ruined, there is no real way for Southwest to make this right.”

They also criticized Southwest for its recent plans to reinstate a dividend to shareholders, which would cost the company about $428 million in 2023.

Southwest did say that it would “honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel and alternate transportation” for passengers who submit receipts for travel between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2.

Rep. Colin Allred, D- Dallas, criticized Southwest Tuesday for canceling flights, a lack of preparedness and taking federal $5.6 billion in federal grants to help keep it running during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is unacceptable and given the federal support they received, the public deserves answers,” Allred said in a statement.

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