Southwest Airlines Under Investigation

U.S. authorities are looking into Southwest Airlines' handling of the Christmas travel mayhem.

After last month's many delays and cancellations left passengers stranded, the US government has opened an investigation against Southwest Airlines. The carrier's Christmas fiasco, which left millions of people delayed, has prompted the Department of Transportation to launch a "full inquiry." Southwest has claimed it is helping investigators in their quest to find the truth.

"I can't say it enough. We messed up. We took good will out of the bank. We know that.”

"We have work to do to repair trust, but our customers are very loyal and we're seeing that loyalty," commented CEO Bob Jordan.

Throughout the peak week of holiday travel last month, the airline cancelled almost 16,000 flights, stranding many travellers.

The transportation bureau is looking into whether or if the airline intentionally booked more flights for late December than it could have safely operated. It warned that any action would violate federal law against misleading practises. Also, it claimed to have made plain to Southwest that it must give prompt "refunds and reimbursements" to affected customers.

Several airlines were forced to cancel flights after a massive snow storm slammed the United States and Canada.

The airline previously said that its holiday flight schedule was thoughtfully created and given to the passengers with the support of a strong strategy to run it, and with enough manpower. The company’s representatives declared that an "unprecedented storm" contributed to the overloading of its infrastructure.

Southwest reported $800m in losses due to the disruptions in travel at the time. The carrier stated in its quarterly earnings report that reservations had slowed this month as a result of the travel disruption but that bookings for March were good.

 

Source: bbc.com