Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has pledged to continue to hold Southwest Airlines accountable for its operational challenges that led to thousands of flight cancellations in December 2022, even as a winter storm that initiated the difficulties subsided.
Southwest Airlines said in an apologetic Dec. 30, 2022, update that it had restored its schedule, and it offered ways customers could get help.
“Our department will continue to hold Southwest to its responsibility to take care of customers affected by holiday travel disruptions,” Buttigieg said in a Jan. 10 Twitter post. “We will enforce their responsibility to refund flight tickets and reimburse for alternate and ground transport, baggage costs, meals and hotels.”
AP News cited FlightAware Dec. 28, 2022, in reporting that Southwest Airlines continued to cancel flights, calling off nearly 10,000 flights as of Dec. 28, 2022, with more expected in the next two days.
“I made clear that our department will be holding them accountable for their responsibilities to customers, both to get them through this situation and to make sure that this can't happen again," Buttigieg told CNN.
He said the Department of Transportation is prepared to seek fines against the company if there is proof that it failed to meet its legal obligations, according to CNN.
On Dec. 29, 2022, Buttigieg wrote a letter to Southwest Airlines, in which he outlined four expectations: getting stranded people to their destinations; processing reimbursements for meals, hotels and ground transportation; refunding cancelled tickets; and ensuring customers receive their luggage. Buttigieg said he expected the company to resume normal operations in the coming days.
