Southwest Has Another Problem To Work Through

(Republicaninformer.com)- Southwest has more problems than consumer complaints. The U.S. Transportation Department stated that it is forwarding all of the complaints of customers of Southwest from its massive December cancellation spree to its ongoing investigation, according to Newsmax.

The agency is directing that the airline complies with federal regulations and answer all of these complaints within the next 60 days. It claims that Southwest will be held accountable if passengers affected by the more than 16,000 canceled flights in December are not reimbursed.

Officials at the department called the airline’s cancelations and delays “disproportionate and unacceptable,” according to Fox News.

“The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan,” the transportation department wrote on Twitter.

Flights were canceled in December because of a severe winter storm and the company’s outdated technology. Winter Storm Elliott touched down on much of the U.S. while Southwest was operating most of the canceled flights.

Since the incident, the company is offering tickets as cheap as $49 for one-way routes, following another sale last January with fares as low as $39. Some analysts are reportedly seeing Southwest’s actions as a way to deflect customers’ attention from the recent fiasco and to win over investors who are concerned over a projected quarterly hit of $825 million.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that he was tracking the issue closely. The agency reportedly said that Buttigieg spoke with the airline and union leaders to convey the obligations that they had to meet for their passengers.

The airline saw issues in October 2021 when it canceled over 1,00 flights. The issue was attributed to weather but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had experienced massive worker shortages after a walkout, according to American Pigeon.

In a message to its employees obtained by The Dallas Morning News, the airline reportedly said that staffing shortages were part of the issue.