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Key Senate Democrats push Southwest CEO for answers on holiday meltdown



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Southwest Airlines Executive Vice President Bob Jordan speaks as he is interviewed by CNBC outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 9, 2021.Brendan McDermid | ReutersFifteen senators, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, sent a letter to Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan on Friday demanding answers about the airline’s management of 2022 holiday travel disruptions, which left thousands of passengers stranded in airports.The questions push for details about the causes of the meltdown, including Southwest’s overloaded crew scheduling software that buckled from all the flight changes. The mass cancellations came alongside severe winter weather across the U.S. and elevated holiday travel demand, which forced U.S. airlines to cancel thousands of flights.When other airlines recovered from the storm, Southwest’s problems got worse. It canceled much of its schedule to try to reset its operation, spoiling the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of customers.”Although winter storm Elliott disrupted flights across the country, every other airline operating in the United States managed to return to a regular flight schedule shortly thereafter — except Southwest,” the letter reads.The airline canceled nearly 17,000 flights between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The company projected the meltdown would cost it between $725 million and $825 million in the fourth quarter.The senators also asked the airline for details on compensating affected …

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