Secretary Pete Buttigieg has faced criticism for refusing to take on the increasingly consolidated airline industry.
Pristine Floyde searches for a friend's suitcase in a baggage holding area for Southwest Airlines at Denver International Airport on December 28, 2022, in Denver, Colorado.Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday urged the Transportation Department to ensure Southwest’s chief executive pays a price for mass U.S. flight cancellations that have left passengers and employees stranded around the country, throwing lives into chaos and drawing further attention to the company’s business practices.
“Southwest’s flight delays and cancellations are beyond unacceptable,” Sanders wrote on Twitter. “This is a company that got a $7 billion taxpayer bailout and will be handing out $428 million in dividends to their wealthy shareholders. The U.S. Department of Transportation must hold Southwest’s CEO accountable for his greed and incompetence.”acknowledged
on Tuesday that the airline needs to “upgrade” its outdated scheduling system and other technology that flight attendants and pilots have been warning about for years. “For more than a decade, leadership shortcomings in adapting, innovating, and safeguarding our operations have led to repeated system disruptions, countless disappointed passengers, and millions in lost profits,” the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association in a statement Wednesday.
Instead of investing more heavily in such critical upgrades, Southwest pumped billions of dollars into
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