The United States Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday joined the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) existing investigation into the dramatic meltdown of Southwest Airlines last December. The probe will reportedly focus on the carrier's scheduling protocols.
Regulators will examine the cause of over 16,000 Southwest flights being canceled during the busy holiday rush. The investigation comes on top of the low-cost airline examining itself with the help of an outside consulting firm in January.
A detailed investigation
The DOT will search thoroughly to determine whether Southwest set crew schedules that it knew were unfeasible due to staffing, according to DOT spokesperson Kerry Arndt, who spoke to POLITICO.
“The DOT team probing whether Southwest engaged in unrealistic scheduling of flights is also closely coordinating with DOJ and FAA. DOT will leverage the full extent of its investigative and enforcement power to ensure consumers are protected and to hold Southwest accountable for any violations of the law.”
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Cause of the meltdown
After severe winter storms ravaged the country and impacted major airports last December, thousands of Southwest passengers were stranded for days because the airline was unable to recover, likely due to its unique point-to-point operation model. Other airlines, which mainly operate with the traditional hub-and-spoke model, were able to quickly recover from the impact. Southwest said it struggled to get flights back online due to its outdated internal scheduling system.
“As part of this investigation, DOT has conducted on-site audits of Southwest’s refunds and reimbursements records, met with numerous Southwest officials to assess the causes of Southwest’s system-wide winter holiday breakdown, and is examining tens of thousands of pages of documents,” Arndt said.
According to POLITICO, the Dallas-based airline is reportedly cooperating with the DOT’s probe.
“It remains our understanding that the DOT is continuing to take the lead on this matter,” King said in an email to POLITICO. “We have not received any inquiries from the Department of Justice but remain ready to cooperate with all interested government agencies.”
Did Southwest know better?
In January, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the DOT’s probe into Southwest, determining whether the carrier proceeded to create schedules that were unrealistic and would be seen as unfair and deceptive under federal law.
Secretary Buttigieg and Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell said they will keep a close eye on Southwest, according to POLITICO.
“This is another demonstration that Southwest Airlines needs to upgrade their systems,” Cantwell said.
Buttigieg also mentioned that the DOT is “watching to ensure that Southwest Airlines takes care of all passengers who were affected by their technical problems.”
The department also consulted Southwest to find out how many affected passengers were entitled to refunds under federal law.
Bob Jordan, the carrier’s CEO, said that affected passengers traveling between December 24th and January 2nd were refunded or given travel credit. Several Southwest passengers were gifted with free tickets and Rapid Rewards points, or received reimbursement for purchasing tickets on another airline, staying in a hotel, buying food, or using a taxi, according to Jordan.
The DOJ partnering with the DOT comes a few days after Southwest experienced another interruption to its operation. On Monday, the airline grounded its flights temporarily due to a technology issue.
Source: POLITICO