Senators grilled a top Southwest Airlines executive on Thursday over the company’s holiday meltdown, which disrupted flights for as many as two million people during one of the year’s busiest periods for air travel.
Over several hours, lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation peppered Southwest’s chief operating officer, Andrew Watterson, with questions about how the airline’s operations buckled during the holidays and the steps it was taking to prevent a similar breakdown in the future.
“Do you understand the public’s frustration with this?” asked Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington and the committee chairwoman. Senator Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the committee, called Southwest’s holiday meltdown “an epic screw up.”
The hearing comes less than two months after the holiday debacle. Like other airlines, Southwest struggled with flight delays and cancellations in the days leading into Christmas in places with wet, windy and cold weather. Southwest’s operations in Denver and Chicago, which serve as the base for about a quarter of the airline’s flight crews, were particularly hard hit.
Southwest Airlines Faces Tough Questions From Senators
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