A group of 15 Democratic U.S. Senators recently sent a letter to Robert E. Jordan, Southwest Airlines CEO, seeking answers regarding the airline’s mass flight cancellations in December.
Between Dec. 27 and Dec. 29, Southwest canceled more than 7,500 flights. The other major airlines canceled 1,077 flights combined.
“The mass flight cancellations at Southwest Airlines (“Southwest”) during the last week of December ruined the holidays for tens of thousands of travelers, stranding them at gates without their bags and forcing them to miss celebrations with families and friends,” the letter said. “Although winter storm Elliott disrupted flights across the country, every other airline operating in the United States managed to return to a regular flight schedule shortly thereafter — except Southwest. Southwest must take all necessary steps to ensure that this debacle never happens again.”
The senators requested Southwest answer a series of more than 20 questions by Feb. 2. The senators requested a detailed explanation for why the airline could not return to a normal flight schedule following the storm. The explanation should identify the challenges the airline faced daily from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2 and the steps the airline took to address the issues.
In December, lawmakers called for Southwest to provide monetary compensation to passengers for the cancellations.