Arizona congressmen call for Southwest Airlines' leadership to answer for debacle

Some Arizona congressmen are calling for public testimony from Southwest Airlines’ leadership to explain mass flight cancellations over the Christmas holiday.

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., who serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Aviation subcommittee, said the airline’s “apparent failure to adequately prepare for or respond to foreseeable circumstances has created a paralyzing system-wide collapse.”

“Southwest’s leadership, including CEO Robert Jordan, must explain to the American people and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee why it has failed to invest in its IT infrastructure, adequately staff airline operations, or to learn hard lessons from past challenges,” Stanton said in a statement.

Stanton said the Christmas cancellations were the second time in 14 months that Southwest had sweeping cancellations of flights, leaving passengers stranded. Southwest also had major cancellations in June and October 2021. At the time, then-CEO Gary Kelly said changes had been made to prevent a similar issue, Stanton’s statement said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Southwest canceled more than 90% of its flights at Sky Harbor and two-thirds of its flights nationwide, Stanton said.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., sent a letter to Jordan on Tuesday looking for answers to questions about securing refunds, compensation for long waits or other expenses like a hotel room or rental car and what steps Southwest will take to prevent the situation from happening again.

“Southwest Airlines must answer for their screw ups at Sky Harbor and at airports across the country,” Gallego said in a statement. “Arizonans had to pay out of pocket because of Southwest’s mistakes, and I am looking to hear from the airline on how specifically they will make those impacted whole. If they fall short, I will work with the administration and my colleagues in Congress to ensure a billion-dollar airline like Southwest is held accountable for their gross negligence.”

Some travelers racked up considerable expenses after being stranded in cities where they had layovers. Nora Croutier, who was traveling from Phoenix to New York, rented a car, spent two nights in a hotel and had to be rerouted through another city after canceled flights left her stuck in Kansas City.

She was traveling with her cat, and was grateful for the help of kind strangers who helped her get toiletries and cat supplies because hers were in a checked bag she could not access.

"My first night getting the hotel was pretty simple, I called pretty early," she said of her extra nights in Kansas City. "But the woman at the hotel did tell me they were filling up pretty fast."

In a statement on Thursday, Southwest said it plans to return to “normal operations with minimal disruptions” on Friday.

The airline set up a website for customers to submit refund and reimbursement requests for meals, hotels and alternate transportation methods and to help customers get their baggage.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Stanton, Gallego call for explanation from Southwest Airlines