January 16, 2023 3:50 a.m.

Senator Ron Wyden and a group of Democratic colleagues are seeking answers from Southwest Airlines for its mass flight cancellations in Oregon and nationwide over the holidays in the final week of December.

In a letter to Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan, the group said, “The mass flight cancellations at Southwest Airlines during the last week of December ruined the holidays for tens of thousands of travelers, stranding them at gates without their bags and forcing them to miss celebrations with families and friends”. The group said, “Although winter storm Elliot 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. Southwest must take all necessary steps to ensure that this debacle never happens again”.

Southwest canceled more than 7,500 flights between December 27 and 29 – in the wake of winter storm Elliot – even as all other major airlines cancelled 1,077 flights combined during that period. In the letter, Wyden and colleagues asked Southwest to explain the causes of what they called, “…this holiday debacle”.

The full letter is linked: https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/senators_letter_to_southwest_airlines_-_january_2023pdf.pdf