Southwest under fire for mass flight cancellations, ‘despicable’ treatment of workers

Southwest Airlines is facing calls for accountability from organized labor and congressional Democrats after canceling thousands of flights over the past week, leaving tens of thousands of workers and customers in limbo during the holiday season.

Every airline has experienced disruptions during Winter Storm Elliott, the dangerous nationwide cold snap that began just days before Christmas. But while other major carriers have largely recovered, Southwest continues to struggle, canceling roughly two-thirds of its flights on Tuesday. United, Delta, American, and JetBlue, by contrast, all reported flight cancellation rates of 2% or less on Tuesday.

While Southwest chief operating officer Andrew Watterson said in a memo sent to employees on Monday night that the company’s current systems have been “overmatched” by extreme weather, the union representing Southwest flight attendants attributes ongoing operational failures and maltreatment of workers to the corporation’s yearslong refusal to invest in much-needed technological upgrades.

“The way Southwest Airlines has treated its flight crews can only be termed ‘despicable,'” Lyn Montgomery, a Dallas-based flight attendant and president of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 556, said Monday in a statement.

“We know the demands of holiday travel. We know winter storms. And believe me, we know about stepping up and putting in long work hours when we are called to do so; we are flight attendants,” said Montgomery. “But at this point, the many years of failure by management, despite many unions’ demands to modernize, has left flight attendants fatigued, stranded, hungry, and cold—on Christmas! This impacts lives and threatens safety for all.”

According to TWU Local 556, thousands of Southwest crew members have been “stranded across the country, some forced to sleep on cots in airports, some in hotels without power or water, and far too many working long hours well past acceptable duty days, and more.”

“Trying to get home for Christmas seems like a dream to flight attendants who are struggling with the nightmare of simply trying to secure appropriate shelter, food, and rest,” the union added.

Other Southwest employees have also been subjected to abuse. According to a leaked memo from last Wednesday, Southwest’s vice president for ground operations, Chris Johnson, told ramp agents at Denver International Airport (DIA) that they will be terminated if they refuse to work mandatory overtime or take a sick day without providing a doctor’s note immediately upon their return.

Meanwhile, thousands of Southwest customers have been stranded in airports around the country in recent days, with little knowledge of where their luggage is or when they will be able to reach their destination.

Although the company said Monday in a statement that its agents are trying to re-accommodate as many passengers as possible, it also announced that it will “continue operating a reduced schedule by flying roughly one-third of our schedule for the next several days.”

In a Tuesday statement, Democratic Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) called on Southwest to compensate customers for avoidable holiday flight cancellations.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said late Monday that it “is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and reports of lack of prompt customer service.” The agency announced that it “will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.”

Without naming Southwest, U.S. President Joe Biden wrote Tuesday on Twitter that “our administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable” and pointed consumers to a DOT dashboard where they can see if they are entitled to compensation.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.