Southwest Airlines faces storm of criticism over holiday chaos
Southwest Airlines remained in the hot seat as it contended with mass flight cancellations while rival US carriers recovered from a severe winter storm.
The Dallas-based, domestic-focused carrier, which has historically enjoyed a strong reputation with consumers, drew withering expletive-filled rebukes on social media, where labour leaders also highlighted horror stories from stranded airline employees.
At issue is Southwest's performance in the wake of a brutal winter storm that began ahead of Christmas, wreaking havoc with holiday travel networks and causing some 50 fatalities.
That's on top of some 8,150 flights cancelled over the prior five-day stretch, according to the website FlightAware.
Southwest has apologised for the debacle, describing the inconvenience to customers as "unacceptable."
"We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent," said a company statement.
"As we continue the work to recover our operation, we have made the decision to continue operating a reduced schedule by flying roughly one third of our schedule for the next several days."
Airline officials have acknowledged that outdated systems contributed to the problems.
The US Department of Transportation is concerned by Southwest's unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays.
"The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan."
