'Southwest Airlines made a risky gamble that mass layoffs and spending billions of dollars on handouts to investors rather than fixing infrastructure would pay off with record profits,' said one watchdog. 'The airline lost that bet badly.'
"Southwest Airlines made a risky gamble that mass layoffs and spending billions of dollars on handouts to investors rather than fixing infrastructure would pay off with record profits," said one watchdog. "The airline lost that bet badly.
"Southwest's well-compensated executives could have prioritized its workers and customers by preparing for the worst, but greed trumped all as they put a small group of wealthy investors first," Herrig added. "Consumers shouldn't be the ones stuck holding the bag for Southwest's greedy management decisions, but here we are.
Unions representing flight attendants and pilots have said that while the winter storm fueled some of the cancellations, deliberate decisions by Southwest management were ultimately responsible for what's beenSpecifically, the vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Associationthat the company's "outdated" scheduling software has been overwhelmed, wreaking havoc on operations.
"Obviously, the impact of Winter Storm Elliott created the issues, but the Southwest Airlines systems cannot recover because we have outdated technology," Montgomery said.Wednesday that many of the scheduling issues "stem from the carrier's unique 'point-to-point' model, in which planes tend to fly from destination to destination without returning to one or two main hubs.
"Ground workers need more support," Barnes added. "Many of our people have been forced to work 16- or 18-hour days during this holiday season. Our members work hard, they're dedicated to their jobs, but many are getting sick, and some have experienced frostbite over the past week. In severe weather, it's unreasonable for workers to stay outside for extended periods. People need to be able to cycle in and out of the cold.
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