WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Southwest Airways (LUV.N) on Thursday confronted harsh criticism from U.S. senators at a listening to investigating the airline’s meltdown that disrupted journey plans for two million prospects, with one lawmaker calling the state of affairs an “unmitigated catastrophe.”
Senators recounted to Southwest a litany of horrendous journey tales: Individuals lacking funerals and vacation gatherings, passengers compelled to drive for 17 or extra hours throughout the nation after flights had been canceled and most cancers sufferers who couldn’t get remedy.
The airline and its pilot union supplied sharply contrasting causes for the low-cost provider’s huge journey disruptions. Whereas Southwest cited climate impacts, the union singled out poor preparation and a failure to modernize expertise.
Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen known as it an “unmitigated catastrophe” that had a “devastating impression on households.”
Ted Cruz, the highest Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, known as the cancellation of greater than 16,000 flights “an epic screwup” however mentioned he was assured Southwest executives “are dedicated to doing all the pieces attainable to stop its recurrence.”
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Southwest Chief Working Officer Andrew Watterson instructed reporters that the airline has already paid a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} in compensation and reimbursements for bills and can reduce 2022 bonuses to executives when they’re awarded in March.
“Government bonuses for 2022 might be lowered due to this,” he mentioned.
Watterson mentioned it has obtained about 284,000 instances from passengers impacted by meltdown and reimbursed greater than 273,000 — leaving 10,782. He mentioned these nonetheless beneath evaluate had been submitted extra just lately.
“We reimbursed tire chains, strollers, automotive seats, pet sitting, however issues we did not reimburse had been issues like $7,000 procuring sprees at luxurious shops or chartering a personal jet,” Watterson mentioned, including that 96% of claims have been accomplished.
Watterson mentioned that any passenger declare that was nicely documented and beneath $4,000 might be paid on the spot, whereas greater requests went to a supervisor.
[1/6] A Southwest Airways jetliner lands at Chicago Halfway Worldwide Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., December 27, 2022. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski/
He acknowledged that the airline made errors and that expertise points had been an element. He mentioned the provider is introducing an up to date crew scheduling system on Friday to deal with a particular failure in the course of the meltdown.
“Let me be clear: we tousled.” After detailing what went improper, he added that “none of that is an excuse.” He admitted: “There have been expertise points in the course of the disruption — we do not dispute that.”
Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell mentioned, “We’re at all times going to have these climate occasions and a few of us consider they will grow to be extra extreme. However what we would like is to have a system that is able to deal with that.”
Cantwell mentioned Southwest Chief Government Officer Bob Jordan, who had been invited to the listening to, “did not wish to present up.” Southwest mentioned the listening to conflicted with different commitments, together with an worker rally in Baltimore on Wednesday.
The meltdown brought about the cancellation of just about 17,000 flights and is estimated to have value the airline greater than $1 billion. It has additionally prompted a lawsuit from shareholders and a Division of Transportation investigation.
The Dallas-based airline attributed the breakdown in service to a “historic” winter storm, each in measurement and scale, that brought about frozen jet bridges and icy plane engines.
However Southwest’s pilot union, which is in contract negotiations with the airline, blamed the corporate and its management for a “failure” to modernize crew administration processes and expertise and to organize for the storm.
Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airways Pilots Affiliation (SWAPA), mentioned that the union has been sounding the alarm in regards to the provider’s crew scheduling expertise and “outdated” operational processes for years.
“Sadly, these warnings had been summarily ignored,” he mentioned.
The debacle has put Jordan within the eye of a storm as he faces strain to revive the airline’s credibility and regain the belief of consumers only one 12 months after he took the helm. Jordan has apologized and brought duty for the troubles, vowing to stop a repeat.
Murray mentioned that whereas Jordan inherited a “huge, complicated operation held collectively by duct tape and baling wire,” he should present by actions that the corporate is critical about change.
Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh and David Shepardson in Washington; Enhancing by Josie Kao and Mark Porter
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