SOUTHWEST AIRLINES’ HOLIDAY MELTDOWN A DEEPER LOOK The holiday season is a time when many people enjoy tuning out the news, relaxing with friends and family, and forgetting their worries. However, in 2022, one of the staples of the holidays, plane travel, turned into a news story that proved impossible to ignore. Southwest Airlines, often ranked as the top American economy and budget airline, suffered a complete meltdown that, in a system with even a little accountability for corporate actors, would have the company looking at serious consequences. It is worth looking into what led to Southwest’s cascading problems and how truly dangerous short-sighted economic and business practices can ultimately be. To summarize what unfolded, Southwest’s recent difficulties hit a crescendo around Christmas, forcing the airline to cancel approximately 15,000 flights around the holidays, including almost 70% of the flights scheduled for the two days following Christmas. The cancellations left waves of travelers stranded in airports, scrambling for accommodations, and even stranded many Southwest crew members. Southwest is a microcosm of America’s airline industry, a small group of corporations that are allowed to act with total impunity. Airline companies’ service and customer satisfaction only get worse; they only make the experience more unpleasant each year, yet their bottom lines keep getting larger and larger. As it does in so many areas, our government has created conditions where these airlines feel like no deed, no matter how egregious, will ever be punished. Southwest’s own employees have also called out the company's business practices, most notably in a letter from the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association dated January 3. Captain Tom Nekouei, vice president of the Association, claims that former CEO and chairman Gary Kelly has spearheaded constant underinvestment in the company’s infrastructure, leading to repeated meltdowns over the past 15 years. This underinvestment has led to short staffing, By Mark Anderson, NMBA Legal and Legislative Assistant 18
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODQxMjUw