unaligned

The Biden administration will hold Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) "accountable" if it fails to fulfill commitments to customers for "controllable delays and cancellations," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Thursday, after the airline canceled thousands of flights in the wake of winter storms. In a letter to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan dated Dec. 29, Buttigieg also said the company has agreed to honor "reasonable" requests for reimbursement for alternative transportation for passengers whose flights were canceled or delayed between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2.<br/>

Southwest Airlines, caught in a vexing tangle of misplaced staff and technical problems since last week’s winter storm, said Thursday that it planned to return to normal operations on Friday “with minimal disruptions.” Over its five-decade history, Southwest has cultivated a reputation for inexpensive tickets, reliable customer service and flight crews with a sense of humor. But the company’s meltdown stranded thousands of travelers, bewildered employees and put its executives on the defensive, possibly doing damage to Southwest’s brand that could take years to repair. More than 2,300 of Southwest’s flights were canceled on Thursday, or about 58% of the flights that it had scheduled for the day. By contrast, the airline had canceled just 39 flights scheduled for Friday as of Thursday afternoon, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. “We know even our deepest apologies — to our customers, to our employees and to all affected through this disruption — only go so far,” the company said Thursday. Southwest’s problems started with a severe winter storm that disrupted every airline in the busy travel days before Christmas. But the company did not quickly bounce back like the rest of the industry, in large part because of technological shortcomings. In a call with journalists on Thursday, Southwest’s executives said they would learn from the debacle, though they stopped short of committing to a timeline for fixing the airline’s computer systems so that they can withstand large-scale weather disruptions. The company said the scheduling systems that match pilots and attendants to flights had become overwhelmed by the volume of changes that Southwest needed to make after frigid weather around Christmas forced it to begin delaying and canceling flights. That left it unable to quickly restart flights when the weather improved because it could not get crews to where its planes were. Southwest’s problems were compounded by its point-to-point system, in which planes do not regularly return to large hub airports — a contrast with other large airlines. Southwest said it had marshaled a “volunteer army” of more than 1,000 corporate employees to manually schedule crews.<br/>

Southwest Airlines’ holiday meltdown will “certainly” hit its Q4 results, executives said Thursday, adding that it will take several weeks to work through affected travelers’ reimbursement requests. The systemwide chaos stranded hundreds of thousands of customers over the holiday week and drew scrutiny from Washington. The low-cost airline slashed schedules over the last several days, flying just about one-third of its planned flights, in a desperate effort to stabilize its operation and get planes and crews where they need to go. Southwest said it expects to operate a normal schedule on Friday. It’s canceled 39 flights scheduled for Friday, according to FlightAware, down from more than 2,300 on Thursday. “We have all hands on deck and tested solutions in place to support the restored operation. I’m confident, but I’m also cautious,” CEO Bob Jordan said in a staff memo Thursday. The airline also resumed selling tickets for Friday, after a pause it implemented before it stabilized its schedule, said Jordan, a more than three-decade Southwest veteran who became CEO in February. Southwest’s operation unraveled over the holiday week after brutal winter weather swept across the U.S. When most airlines had recovered at the end of last week, Southwest’s problems worsened. Executives cited challenges including overloaded internal scheduling platforms crucial to getting crews matched with flights. Executives on Thursday vowed to improve crew scheduling platforms and said that modernization efforts were already underway but noted such projects take years.<br/>

It wasn’t the canceled flight on Christmas Day that upset Shelley Morrison the most. It was the police officer threatening to arrest her if she didn’t leave a secure area of the airport. Morrison and her three daughters had arrived at Nashville International Airport two hours early on Dec. 25 for their Southwest Airlines flight to Cleveland to see family in Ohio. But as the airline canceled flights across the country, sowing confusion, disappointment and anger among thousands of travelers, Morrison tried to find out more information about what was happening with her flight. As she waited in line among frustrated travelers hoping to speak to an employee at a Southwest gate, an airline employee called security and two police officers with the airport’s Department of Public Safety showed up, she said. One officer told the Southwest travelers that they needed to leave “or you’ll be arrested for trespassing,” according to a TikTok video recorded by Morrison’s daughter, Amani Robinson, 20. “Go. Right now,” the officer said. “Everybody to the unsecure side. The ticket counter will help you with any questions you have.” The airport, in a statement, said its officers were working “to ensure the safety of all passengers” as severe winter weather wreaked havoc on holiday air travel. Morrison said that text notifications that she had received from Southwest had indicated that her flight was only delayed, not canceled. On the video, she asked the officer directly if he was threatening to arrest people for trespassing. “Yes,” he said. “If you don’t have a valid ticket and you’re on the secured side and refuse to leave, you will be arrested.” Morrison replied: “We do have tickets. We have valid tickets.” And the officer said, “Well, if your ticket is canceled, you no longer have a ticket. You understand that, right?” The officer added that Southwest had called the police because travelers were congregating near a gate that needed to be closed. Story has more.<br/>

Sunwing Vacations Inc. says it is sending out dozens of recovery flights this week to bring home thousands of passengers stranded in Mexico after winter storms disrupted its operations.<br/>"We continue to navigate unprecedented operational challenges, resulting in a number of ongoing flight delays," said airline president Len Corrado in a statement. "We deeply apologize for the impact to our customers' travel plans over the holiday season." The airline said Thursday that it has 40 recovery flights planned this week with 24 expected to be completed by the end of the day. Sunwing said the delays, which began to pile up as it issued widespread flight cancellations because of winter storms, have been difficult to sort out because of displaced crews and airplanes. While other airlines also experienced disruptions and cancelled flights, Sunwing's focus on southern vacation destinations means a greater proportion of its travellers were stuck abroad. Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra said in a statement Wednesday that he was very concerned with the situation at Sunwing and that airlines need to keep passengers informed. "This ongoing situation is unacceptable. Canadians must receive the information they need to return home safely." Sunwing said it is communicating rescheduled flights as they're confirmed through flight alert notifications and through representatives on the ground.<br/>

Vietjet plans to fully resume its flight network to China from June 2023 and offer nearly 100 flights a day by the end of the year. Vietnam's neighbouring country has taken steps to open up to international tourism from Jan 8. “After China's pandemic prevention measures are removed, and the tourist visa policy between the two countries is restored, Vietjet will give priority to reopening the route network to China, starting with flights from Vietnam's major economic and tourist cities to China's populous cities in 2023," said Nguyen Thanh Son, vice president of Vietjet. "Our goal is to fully restore the flight network to China in the first six months of 2023, maintaining our position as the largest airline operating between the two countries," Son said, adding that his airline is striving to provide nearly 100 flights each day by the end of 2023, or 20-30 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic level. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietjet was the leading airline in terms of the number of routes between Vietnam and China, accounting for about 50 per cent of the total air traffic between the two countries. The airline had linked six Vietnamese cities including Hanoi, HCM City, Nha Trang, Danang, Dalat and Phu Quoc with more than 50 cities and provinces in China. The airline currently operates five routes connecting HCM City to Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan and Hangzhou.<br/>