Feds demand accountability, help for passengers as Southwest experiences historic "meltdown"
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- At least the airline isn't discriminating against a particular city, not when Southwest has canceled nearly 65% of its flights.
"It's anxiety. A lot of anxiety," passenger Shannon Halverson lamented to WCCO. "I was expecting to be home on Christmas day and I wanted to be with my family but that didn't happen."
At MSP specifically, 21 of 24 Southwest flights on Tuesday were canceled; the only departure actually scheduled to depart was an evening flight to Chicago Midway.
"Could be worse. It's only money," passenger Brian Taylor joked. "We have a house to stay in, family around us. We get a couple extra days. We don't get to see them very often."
Taylor said he came to the airport to speak with an agent instead of waiting on the phone, and learned his return flight to Washington, D.C. won't happen until at least this weekend.
"It's a heck of a drive, 17 to 18 hours," Taylor added. "Committing to do it isn't the big deal. Finding the car and the car seat will be the challenge."
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday spoke with Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan, WCCO, and a USDOT spokesman said the secretary made several demands of the airline on behalf of frustrated passengers.
"The rate of cancellations and delays on Southwest Airlines is unacceptable and dramatically higher than other U.S. carriers," the spokesman explained. [Sec. Buttigieg] expects the airline to live up to the commitments it has made to passengers, including providing meal vouchers, refunds, and hotel accommodations for those experiencing significant delays or cancelations that came about as a result of Southwest's decisions and actions. Southwest, as all airlines, is also obligated to provide a cash refund for passengers whose flights were canceled and decided not to travel."
The USDOT added that the secretary also engaged with leaders from Southwest's pilots' and flight attendants' unions.
"The Department will take action to hold Southwest accountable if it fails to fulfill its obligations and we will stay engaged with Southwest Airlines to make sure the airline does not allow a situation like this to happen again," the DOT insisted.
On Monday, Southwest offered its "heartfelt apologies" in a statement but blamed severe winter weather and the airlines' hubs in Chicago and Denver as particular vulnerabilities.
"We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity," the statement said.
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan, however, made a striking admission that "Part of what we're suffering is a lack of tools," according to a note to employees that was shared by the flight attendant's union. "We've talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation, and the need to do that."
Peter Greenberg, CBS News Travel Editor, described that statement as a "huge precedent" with "big consequences" for the airline since the cancelations can now be attributed to airline operations - which is within the airline's control - and not external factors like the weather.
"If you can't communicate to your flight crews or your maintenance guys or operations guys who's going to what plane and where it's going, the system completely falls apart," Greenberg explained. "Anytime an airline shuts down like this for 12 hours, it's a minimum of 36 hours to get back on track."
Greenberg said the admission now means passengers are entitled to hotel and meal vouchers, which can be offered by airline agents at the airport.
"What I would say is, 'What hotel are you putting me up at?' Don't ask them if they're going to do it. Ask them for the name of the hotel," Greenberg added. "Keep receipts, get first and last names and titles, build a paper trail. You're going to need it."
Passengers are also entitled to refunds if their flight is canceled - regardless of the reason - if they choose to forego rebooking.