U.S. Department of Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently sent a letter to Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan to address the recent flight disruptions.
According to a Dec. 28 AP News article, Southwest Airlines continued to cancel flights long after the most recent winter storm had passed. Southwest cancelled approximately 2,600 more flights on the East Coast by late afternoon on the day following the storm, accounting for more than 80% of cancelled trips. Furthermore, 2,500 flights had been cancelled Dec. 28, with the warning of more to come in the following days.
"My letter to Southwest’s CEO reiterates what we are requiring them to do when it comes to reimbursements for flights, baggage, ground transport, hotels and meals," Buttigieg said in a Dec. 29 post on Twitter. "We will follow through to make sure these promises are kept."
Buttigieg's letter to Jordan, sent Dec. 29, outlined his four priorities for resolving the difficulties experienced by Southwest passengers who had their travel plans disrupted. These priorities include getting stranded passengers to their destinations safely and quickly; providing or reimbursing passengers for meals, hotels and ground transportation to or from hotels; promptly refunding affected passengers for their cancelled tickets should the passenger not accept alternative offered such as rebooking; and ensuring passengers are quickly reunited with their baggage.
"No amount of financial compensation can fully make up for passengers who missed moments with their families that they can never get back — Christmas, birthdays, weddings and other special events," Buttigieg wrote in the letter. "That’s why it is so critical for Southwest to begin by reimbursing passengers for those costs that can be measured in dollars and cents.
"I hope and expect that you will follow the law, take the steps laid out in this letter and provide me with a prompt update on Southwest’s efforts to do right by the customers it has wronged," Buttigieg added in his letter.
