Southwest Airlines Pilots Association on cancellations: Airline 'wasn't prepared'
Casey Murray said the problems have been a 'decade in the making'
I apologize to our customers, this is uncalled for: Casey Murray
Southwest Airlines Pilots Association president Casey Murray shares his apology for and reasoning behind Southwest’s massive flight cancellations on 'Your World.'
The president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association weighed in on the thousands of flights canceled by the airline in recent days during a Wednesday appearance on "Your World."
Capt. Casey Murray, the president of the union, started off by apologizing to Southwest customers for flight cancellations. Southwest has continued to experience issues this week following the Dallas-based airline and other major carriers having to delay or cancel flights while people attempted to travel for the Christmas holiday due to a massive winter storm affecting large portions of the country.
"At the end of the day, Southwest wasn’t prepared," Murray said. "And unfortunately, this has been a decade in the making. We have sounded alarm bells, we have tried to get them to change processes. It’s a combination of processes, outdated technology and infrastructure."
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Edward Lawrence asked for clarification about the "processes" mentioned, which Murray then said was the "way they use pilots and flight attendants."
Canceled Southwest Airlines flights are seen in red on the departures flight schedules at the Southwest terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday. (AP/Damian Dovarganes / AP Newsroom)
"It’s how when one domino falls, it creates so many other issues," the SWAPA president said, adding that "we start each day with enough pilots, flight attendants, ramp agents, customer service agents there to do the job." Murray said that when an interruption happens, it is the "processes that caused the need for so many more people."
Southwest, when reached for comment, directed FOX Business to CEO Bob Jordan’s video update from Tuesday in which he apologized and offered an explanation for "why this giant puzzle is taking us several days to solve."
The airline’s "highly complex" network was thrown off by the storm, with planes and crew members "in dozens of locations" out of position, Jordan said.
The U.S. Department of Transportation says it will look into flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines that have left travelers stranded at airports across the country amid an intense winter storm. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura / AP Images)
Travelers wait at a Southwest Airlines baggage counter to retrieve their bags after canceled flights at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday. ( AP Photo/Eugene Garcia / AP Images)
"The tools we use to recover from disruption serve us well, 99 percent of the time," he said. "But clearly, we need to double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what’s happening right now."
Jordan said Southwest planned to "significantly reduce" its flight schedule for a few days to get its crews and aircraft back into position, with the airline "optimistic to be back on track before next week."
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LUV | SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. | 31.88 | +0.11 | +0.35% |
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CANCELS 2,500 FLIGHTS WEDNESDAY AS NATIONWIDE TRAVEL WOES CONTINUE
Southwest canceled about 2,500 flights and delayed over 340 others as of Wednesday evening, according FlightAware. The flight tracking website said there have so far been over 2,300 flights canceled by the airline for Thursday.
Greg Norman and Paul Best contributed to this report.