Key Senate Democrats push Southwest CEO for answers on holiday meltdown

Fifteen senators, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, sent a letter to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan connected Friday demanding answers astir the airline's absorption of 2022 vacation question disruptions, which near thousands of passengers stranded successful airports.

The questions propulsion for details astir the causes of the meltdown, including Southwest's outdated bundle and staffing failures. The wide cancellations came alongside an aggravated snowstorm and elevated vacation question demand, which posed a situation to galore airlines.

However, Southwest's cancellations were uniquely outsized.

"Although wintertime tempest Elliott disrupted flights crossed the country, each different hose operating successful the United States managed to instrumentality to a regular formation docket soon thereafter — but Southwest," the missive reads.

The hose canceled astir 17,000 flights betwixt Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The institution projected that the meltdown would outgo it betwixt $725 cardinal and $825 cardinal successful the 4th quarter.

The senators besides asked the hose for details connected compensating affected passengers via summons refunds, returning mislaid baggage and reimbursements for alternate question arrangements made successful the aftermath of Southwest cancellations.

Southwest is still successful the process of reviewing requests for reimbursement and refunds from impacted customers.

The senators' missive besides highlights Southwest's usage of funds, claiming it neglected to update company-wide systems that person agelong been retired of date.

"Southwest has agelong known that its bundle was outdated, and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association had warned that specified a debacle was inevitable unless Southwest invested successful caller scheduling systems," the missive says. "Instead of making those investments, Southwest distributed implicit $1.8 cardinal successful dividends to its shareholders and bought backmost implicit $11 cardinal successful its shares betwixt 2011 and 2020."

Sen. Sanders antecedently bashed Southwest connected Twitter for its "corporate greed," noting that the hose utilized $5.6 cardinal of its $7 cardinal successful Covid alleviation connected banal buybacks for shareholders alternatively than put successful its interior infrastructure.

The senators are giving Jordan until Feb. 2 to respond to their questions.