US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made media rounds last night, pledging that the Department of Transportation would hold Southwest Airlines accountable for what he called a “complete meltdown.”
Pete Buttigieg: We’re In A Position To Hold Southwest Airlines Accountable
Among others, Buttigieg appeared on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, the PBS News Hour with Judy Woodruff, and NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas.
Buttigieg minced no words with Wolf Blitzer when asked about Southwest:
“From what I can tell, Southwest is unable to locate even where their own crews are, let alone their own passengers, let alone baggage…
“Their system really has completely melted down.”
Asked if such language was too strong on the News Hour, Buttigieg told Judy Woodruff:
“Ordinarily, I think that, sometimes, in the media, the word meltdown is used a little bit too often. Right now, I would say meltdown is the only word I can use to describe what is happening across Southwest Airlines’ operations.”
Buttigieg does not believe that weather is a valid excuse, telling Tom Llamas on NBC Nightly News:
“This has clearly crossed the line from what’s an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the airline’s direct responsibility.”
On PBS, Woodruff pushed back on Buttigieg’s “stump speech” pledging to hold Southwest accountable to suggest that new Biden-era DOT consumer protections cannot prevent the sort of meltdown that has impacted Southwest this week.
Buttigieg’s response encapsulates the totality of all his media appearances in just a few sentences:
“Ultimately, what we’re seeing is that no other airline had this issue. So, it does seem to be specific to this one airline. They’re going to have to, I think, as a company that has relationships with their passengers, answer for that. But they’re also going to be responsible to us for meeting their customer service commitments.
“And what we have found is that, both through transparency and through enforcement, we have been able to get a lot of results out of airlines. Just this year alone, we have gotten hundreds of millions of dollars back to hundreds of thousands of passengers.
“And because we put that pressure on over the summer, many airlines, including Southwest, made new commitments in writing to what they will do for passengers in situations like this. Now that we have that in hand, we’re in a position to hold them accountable to them. And that’s exactly what were going to be doing as we look ahead.”
But he did go even further on CNN, telling Blitzer not only would Southwest be held accountable for what has happened, but also be held accountable to a degree that such a meltdown cannot happen again:
“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.”
The US DOT also released its own statement concerning the Southwest meltdown:
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. As more information becomes available, the department 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.
It is not clear what the DOT can do beyond ensuring that Southwest refunds canceled tickets and pays for incidental expenses incurred by consumers as a result of its cascade of delays and cancellations.
CONCLUSION
While DOT policy did not prevent the meltdown at Southwest Airlines this week, Buttigieg promised to hold Southwest accountable for making passengers whole and better understand exactly what caused the collapse. I am not sure DOT can do anything more at this time, but I remind you once again, folks, that the DOT has every right to poke its head in Southwest’s business when Southwest was the beneficiary of billions in taxpayer subsidies during the pandemic.
image: Gage Skidmore / Flickr
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
-Ronald Reagan (August 12th, 1986)
Yeah, lets ask the 400 or so million Europeans who, due to government help, get assured care, reimbursement and/or compensation for events just like this……..
Sounds awesome. But someone pays for that. And it’s not the businesses.
Somehow the cheap European air fare would tend to disagree with you.
Cheap fares, but no pitch and you pay for absolutely everything if you fly a ULCC (like Ryanair). If not, you pay fares comparable to here but with Eurobusiness class that offers the same crap pitch as everyone else gets, only at a price premium. Over there, everything is smaller, yet costs as much or more than we pay here for the larger version. Why? Taxes, taxes, taxes. And they cannot even defend themselves.
Europe is gorgeous and I love visiting. But it’s no model for us.
Two words “Euro Biz”
Ok then. Please tell us who does pay? It ain’t free.
As a European living in the US the answer is everyone pays. The US is built around corporations and individual rights first, Europe is built around the people and community first. In Europe maybe sales tax is ~20%, income tax is high, gas is ~$6 to 8 a gallon, etc……. BUT if you are sick you go to the Doctor and the care is based on medical need not money, with minimal paperwork. In the airlines case the European model is based on consumer protection and redress, the US model based on “well you should have picked another airline”, and redress if you purchased insurance or can hire a good lawyer. The US system leads to dramatic disparity in the life styles of the population, the Europeans would rather not go there, it ultimately causes great troubles.
I missed a connection in Paris on Air France earlier this year. They not only paid for my hotel and meal vouchers but gave me $330 cash (not credit or vouchers) for my inconvenience. It’s high time we held US airlines accountable like this. If cost is a concern let’s mandate its deducted from the CEO’s salaries and stock options.
Yes, we could be like Haiti and have no visible government or any oversight. Be run by warlords and gangs. Which in our case in the U.S. would be corporate leaders ready to line up consumers outside so as to pick pocket us as we wait for food.
It’s a great soundbite from someone with actual dementia (not the imagined dementia that Republicans think Biden has) that has groomed the citizens of this country for the downfall of a functioning society.
Reagan has been the model for every president since him. Even the hate America democrats continue his good policies because they worked.
Which policies? The one that tripled the national debt? The one that started the death of the middle class? The one that gave weapons to saddam hussein? Perhaps you like that he stole billions from social security? Or maybe the double digit unemployment is your favorite one?
But one thing you are right about is that he has been a model president for Republicans… each one has been more damaging to the country than the last.
When you add up all the taxes, surcharges, fees, deductibles, premiums, expenses and copays we pay as Americans, you quickly realize we pay just as much as Europeans do for all goods and services. The difference is we get nothing for it in return except a bloated military and a large cadre of self important billionaires. ‘Murica!
I’m a conservative and love Ronald Reagan but I agree with you Marv. The four big airlines treat us like s## and hide behind the idea there is a “free market.” We need to cap airline CEO pay at $500k/yr and make sure anyone at the VP level doesn’t make more than $250k/yr until they can get to 95% flights on time and 99% baggage delivered on time.
WN has admitted it needs to upgrade its IT systems to better match planes and crews + dispatch during “extreme” circumstances. I like Pete Buttigieg, but waving the finger will do nothing. This is more about the government reminding the industry that it is there to bail it out each time it faces a major existential crisis, as it has in the past, from 9/11 to the onset of the COVID19 pandemic in 2020 and it will continue to do so for the long term. The US airline industry is simply too intertwined with the economy to be left to its own devices and that means everything from bailouts to Executive and Legislative branch forcing of settlement of labor/union disputes will continue in perpetuity and that allows the DoT to apply fines to pad the coffers for the eventual need to dole out Billions to the industry again in the future.
Southwest’s future is probably in the arms of one of the big US3.
Nowhere in his blabbering did he say what the DOT would do or how the DOT could hold SW responsible. The truth is he can’t. SW is a private company where the DOT has no say as to how management chooses to run the company as long as they are running it with in the FAA rules. Nowhere in those rules does it say what kind of crew services software must be used.
Pete Buttigieg Is just like most of the bloggers, who have no airline experience except riding in the back of the plane. But this makes them experts in all aspects of the airline industry.
It would have been far more useful for him to detail what protections there are for customers in this case rather than making utterly empty threats about holding them accountable and preventing it from happening again.
Given that everyone has only found out in the last 48 hours that this is due to an antiquated IT system that could not possibly hold up under stress, I am not sure what you expect Pete to present in that short time? I think the veiled (but equally effective) threats he gave were more in line with pushing WN to step up and provide compensation to the customers impacted. Which they just announced. Next up will be the DOT and other agencies requiring WN to fix their systems for both consumer and safety issues or be levied massive fines. Step one is to get people help now…that has been clearly achieved with WN’s announcement last night on compensation. Step two is to make sure this never happens again. And I think that will be forthcoming in the next few days when the Govt. announces sweeping requirements from WN or face action.
Sounds like this issue has been known about for longer than 48 hours: Captain Michael Santoro, Vice-President of the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association, says that Southwest Airlines have known about the IT system and scheduling issues for years https://justthenews.com/videos/southwest-pilot-association-vp-says-it-issues-have-been-known-southwest-years
If you read my comment in a less perfunctory manner you would have seen I was addressing the idea of DOT knowing about it fully. Not WN management.
All for DoT stepping in. After reading every excuse bad weather, IT problems, Covid, fuel frozen, can’t locate FAs, don’t know who’s got hours, and grandma has to do a manuel schedule and every time she’s finished, dang something else goes wrong. I question how Southwest could ever survive any type of audit. Frankly I cannot see how they can run a payroll lacking so much information.
Complete sympathy for the holiday travelers. While the reimbursing will be a shallow compensation, may Buttigieg lean on Southwest management and make them miserable.
And it’s not just Southwest. 5 out of 6 of my last flights on Delta were late, including one that caused me to have to spend the night in Atlanta and lose a precious vacation day in Cancun. I work all year to earn global upgrades yet Delta downgraded me and my companion. So definitely not worth trying for Diamond status next year. The airlines are broke. Time to fire all the management and start over.
Didn’t he already threaten the US airline industry for their summer meltdown? Whatever happened there? I’d like to see actual ideas and proposals instead of Amber Heard-style “pledges”
Nobody cares what “mayor Pete” has to say about anything.
Hard to take a guy seriously that enjoys another man entering his garbage dump. Maybe you can separate the two, but it shows weakness on his part, not exactly the type person you expect to be forceful in negotiations.
But he would be popular as hell in prison.
Very interesting that all you think about when this guy is brought up is another man entering him. Does it make you feel funny inside?
Honestly, isn’t that the first thing everyone thinks about when his name is brought up? And why is that? Because HE is the one who wants it known and wants to be rewarded for his life choices. If he wasn’t a tonsil jockey, no one would know who he even is. That’s a fact. As he says, sometimes you have to get (your junk) a little dirty to get anywhere in life.
Kind of crude but there is truth to what he is saying. Pete, Karine Jean-Pierre, and others openly use their sexuality to define who they are.
I agree with you there, LGBT persons need to stop the over identification with their sexuality. I am gay, it does not define me, it’s just a part of me, I didn’t choose it — knew something was “wrong” since at least Kindergarten for me. that being said, anal sex is a common occurence for both genders and sexes, it’s not simply something that only gay men do.. straight men and women do, too.
I hate it when straight politicians bring their spouses on stage and rub their sexuality in our faces. All I can think about is him eating her out/penetrating her. Can’t they just keep it in the bedroom?
See how dumb you sound?
Who’s holding Mayor Pete accountable for flying private everywhere?
I don’t blame him. When you run the DoT to the ground, you probably don’t want to fly commercial.
Both Secretary Buttigieg and his predecessor Secretary Chao flew mostly commercial. They both took FAA flights when it was cheaper, or in some other ways more sensical, than commercial – such as when flying with a large contingent. It is a well known area of criticism and ethics investigation, so more recent cabinet members (with some highly publicized exceptions) are careful about this.
I’m sure Southwest is terrified that this useless box-ticking, barely-functioning parasite is on the case.
What does Buttigieg want? The IRS, who can’t even answer their own phones, to run airlines?
The real solution is insurance to pay for another ticket if stranded. Either buy insurance or self-insure.
BUTTIGIEG is a diversity hire who is only in his position because he’s a homosexual. He’s unqualified.
Biden-Buttigieg DOT fails to track aviation imports while prioritizing equity, climate justice https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/woke-transportation-department-not-tracking-potential-supply-chain
Southwest Airlines Ruins Christmas for Flight Attendants https://image.email.twu556.org/lib/fe2e11737164047c7c1d72/m/1/SWA+Ruined+Christmas+for+Flight+Attendants+News+Release+DRAFT+12.26.22.docx.pdf
United and American Airlines place price caps on some cities to help Southwest customers get home https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/28/business/american-airlines-southwest-price-cap/index.html
MEMO
TO: Southwest Storage & Maintenance Dept
FROM: Southwest IT Dept
You know that mainframe that we retired a few years ago and put in the back of a hanger so we could move to the cloud “like everyone else”. Well, you may want to dust it off, wheel it over to IT and help plug it in. Appears it has the capacity to “crunch” data at extraordinary rates without this worthless AI B.S. that promised us utopia. It can also handle planning, crew scheduling, & dispatch on its own with little to no manual intervention while providing outstanding reliability.
PS: Don’t drink the CoolAid at the IT Dept New Years party.
Regards,
Stuck in line at the Memphis Airport
Small town mayor, whose city had a minor bus line. Sec Trans? Gimme a break. Although Southwest may have been deficient in upgrading scheduling systems, they fell victim to a monster storm. And Pete thinks he could have done better? Government needs to get out of the way. If the private sector ran their businesses the way the government does, everyone would be in jail for fraud and financial malfeasance.