Southwest Airlines Executive Vice President Bob Jordan speaks as he is talked to by CNBC outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 9, 2021.
Brendan McDermid|Reuters
Fifteen senators, consisting of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, sent out a letter to Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan today requiring responses about the airline company’s management of 2022 vacation travel disturbances, which left countless travelers stranded in airports.
The concerns promote information about the reasons for the crisis, consisting of Southwest’s overloaded team scheduling software application that buckled from all the flight modifications. The mass cancellations came along with serious winter season weather condition throughout the U.S. and raised vacation travel need, which required U.S. airline companies to cancel countless flights.
When other airline companies recuperated from the storm, Southwest’s issues became worse. It canceled much of its schedule to attempt to reset its operation, ruining the itinerary of numerous countless consumers.
“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,” the letter sent out Thursday checks out.
The airline company canceled almost 17,000 flights in between Christmas Eve and New Year’sEve The business predicted the crisis would cost it in between $725 million and $825 million in the 4th quarter.
“We appreciate the concerns expressed in the letter from the Senators and share in the commitment to ensuring Southwest’s Customers are properly cared for and that actions are taken to mitigate risks of this happening again,” Southwest stated in a declaration. “We hope the recent refunds, reimbursements of expenses, and goodwill gestures to our Customers and Employees demonstrate that we want to go above and beyond in earning their trust once again.”
The senators likewise asked the airline company for information on compensating impacted travelers by means of ticket refunds, returning lost luggage and compensations for alternate travel plans made in the wake of Southwest cancellations.
Southwest is still in the procedure of evaluating ask for compensation and refunds from affected consumers.
The senators’ letter likewise highlights Southwest’s usage of funds, declaring it ignored to upgrade companywide systems that have actually long run out date.
“Southwest has long known that its software was outdated, and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association had warned that such a debacle was inevitable unless Southwest invested in new scheduling systems,” the letter states. “Instead of making those investments, Southwest distributed over $1.8 billion in dividends to its shareholders and bought back over $11 billion in its shares between 2011 and 2020.”
Sanders formerly slammed Southwest on Twitter for its “corporate greed,” keeping in mind the airline company utilized $5.6 billion of its $7 billion in Covid relief on stock buybacks for investors instead of buying its internal facilities.
The senators are offering Jordan tillFeb 2 to react to their concerns.
Sen Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has actually currently stated she prepares to hold a hearing on Southwest’s crisis.
— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs added to this report.
Correction: The senators sent out the letter to Southwest onThursday An earlier variation misstated the day.
