U.S. to examine Southwest Airlines cancellations, calls ‘unacceptable’

Dec 26 (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) stated late on Monday it will examine the big variety of Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) cancelled and delayed flights in current days to decide in the event that they had been within the airline’s management, calling them “unacceptable.”

Southwest canceled 2,886 flights on Monday, or 70% of scheduled flights, after cancelling 48% on Sunday, in accordance to flight monitoring web site FlightAware. It has additionally already canceled 60%, or greater than 2,400, of its deliberate Tuesday flights.

“USDOT is concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay,” the division stated.

It stated it will “closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan as well as all other pertinent DOT rules.”

Southwest delayed 48% of flights on Sunday and 16% on Monday.

Southwest declined to remark late on Monday on the USDOT assertion however pointed to a press release it issued earlier providing “heartfelt apologies” and stated “with consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a significant way that is unacceptable.”

The airline added it was working “to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us.”

Other main U.S. airways suffered important cancellations in current days however not almost at as excessive charges as Southwest they usually have now largely recovered.

USDOT on Monday pointed to Southwest Airlines customer support plan, which notes the airline will present meal or resort vouchers for prolonged delays which are due to points throughout the airline’s management however not for unexpected points like climate.

In August, main U.S. airways together with Southwest instructed USDOT they’d commit to present meals for patrons delayed by three hours and resort rooms for stranded passengers if prompted by points beneath the airways’ management.

Many airways have beforehand provided vouchers or resort rooms for delays they prompted however didn’t spell out all commitments in customer support plans.

Reporting by David Shepardson in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Editing by Tom Hogue & Simon Cameron-Moore

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