Can Southwest Be Trusted?
You’ve all seen the video by now; thousands of pieces of luggage piled up and sitting idly next to motionless conveyor belts at Tampa International Airport. The colorful rows of suitcases are seemingly caught in a Twilight Zone of sorts. They’ve been in the same exact spot for a week now. No one has come to thin the herd or send a few on to their final destination. The checked baggage graveyard is a symptom of a much larger malady.
Southwest Airlines cancelled or delayed an unlievable amount of flights over the Christmas holiday. So many in fact, that the company is now under investigation by the federal government. True, a huge winter storm complicated air travel, hitting the middle of the country and a skeleton flight staff right when they were least capable of handling it. But other airlines seem to adapt and overcome just fine. Why? Southwest cancelled 2,886 flight on Monday alone, which was about 70% of all of the flights that were scheduled for that day. While almost every airline cancelled flights, Southwest cancellations were extremely high by comparison. At one point, Southwest cancelled over 300 flights within a 30 minute window of time. And the Christmas travel mayhem was not an isolated incident. In fact, the airline has already begun to cancel flights in anticipation of the New Years travel rush.
But the federal government has already stepped in, saying the cancellation rate experienced by Southwest over Christmas was far too high. The United States Department Of Transportation says they will launch an investigation into allegations of high rates of delays, cancellations and slow customer service over the holidays. Social media highlighted the shortcomings of airline travel, with countless pictures and video of long lines, rows of abandoned or lost luggage and travelers living in airports across the country. In the middle of it all, thousands of weary fliers were seen sprawled out in Tampa International Airport chairs or burning time in airport restaurants.
Now, Southwest Airlines has responded, saying they are going to make it right for all travelers and SA employees. While they say the storm did play a part in the cluster-f, they also admit that an outdated computer system played a part. That same computer system crashed early in the storm, making it impossible for travelers to be notified about cancelled or delayed flight information beforehand. Meanwhile, the employee union president told reporters that the airline had been warned about the antiquated computer system before. A representative from the airline responded by saying that most of the profit recently has been put toward infrastructure and not updating computer systems.
Meanwhile, the rows of baggage at Tampa Internation Airport remain. Travelers continue to do without daily necessities, including medicine, clothing, business papers, laptops and more. And a federal investigation doesn’t get your life back to normal quickly. In certain cases, you may be eligible for compensation, so do the research and make sure you don’t forgive and forget too quickly. This website can help you. www.transportation.gov/airconsumer Source: Fox13News.com
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