Just a reminder that your bad public image can always get worse.
There was a time when Southwest Airlines was known for top-notch customer service.
But these days, he’s mostly known for keeping customers waiting, and it looks like this reputation won’t be changing anytime soon.
Southwest literally ruined thousands of people’s vacations in late December, as the airline ended up canceling or delaying massive flights, including nearly 75% (or 4,000 domestic flights) just the day after Christmas. In all, more than 16,700 flights were affected, which could end up costing Southwest $825 million, at least.
The delays were nominally attributed to winter storms. But critics have said that the reason Southwest (light) – Get a free reportbent under pressure, unlike airlines that could handle inclement weather, is that the airline hadn’t spent enough money to update its outdated flight scheduling software or to hire enough pilots to compensate people who left during the pandemic. Instead, management focused on keeping costs down and handing out bonuses to executives and dividends to shareholders.
As a result of these elections, in the view of many critics, collapse was only a matter of time for the airline.
Southwest’s rookie CEO Robert Jordan has been trying to lure back the scorned customers, saying in an email that “during the week between Christmas and New Years, our Customers and Employees, including some of you, experienced problems operations that largely interrupted the holidays and the end of the year plans. We want you to know that we are doing everything we can to prevent that from happening again.”
From there, Jordan promised the airline would make a number of improvements to prevent another crash, including spending “over a billion dollars” to upgrade the system.
Jordan also said the airline would work with “great urgency” to process refunds and refund requests, and to offer “25,000 Rapid Rewards points to those hardest hit as a goodwill gesture for their inconvenience.”
But this is what happens with an apology. If you really want people to forgive you, you need to show that you know you made a mistake and that you will work hard to make it right. But for now, there is ample evidence that Southwest is not delivering on its promises of change.
Customers are still waiting for their refunds
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg gave Southwest Airlines a strict deadline to issue refunds to customers who were affected by the “unacceptable” cancellations. In a letter to Jordan, Buttigieg said Southwest is required by law to “provide prompt refunds” for canceled flights that are not rebooked.
“This means that Southwest must provide refunds within seven business days if a passenger paid by credit card, and within 20 days if a passenger paid by cash, check, or other means,” the letter said. He also called on Southwest to cover expenses such as hotels and meals for customers on the ground.
But so far, there have been plenty of reports of people still waiting for their refunds, including a “Seattle, Washington, high school basketball team stranded in Las Vegas for five days over Christmas after Southwest canceled their flight. I had only received a partial payment, according to Business Insiderwhich adds that the trainer and his wife spent more than $10,000 in incidental expenses “and were still waiting for those reimbursement requests to be reviewed.”
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/TheStreet
Is the Department of Transportation on the case?
Customers can request a refund from Southwest, and Buttigieg has said that anyone who has not yet received a refund can contact the Department of Transportation, which will investigate the matter.
A DOT spokesperson told Insider that it will “hold Southwest liable if they don’t” issue timely refunds or refunds. But so far, there has been no word on what that actually means, and whether the agency has any plans to slap fines on the airline, or whether Buttigieg plans to stick to verbal warnings for the foreseeable future.
