Baton Rouge Congressman Garret Graves expects Congress to address Southwest Airline’s failure to deliver on thousands of scheduled flights when they convene a new Congress next year. Graves expects to be chairman of the Aviation House Subcommittee, so he’ll be in the middle of those discussions.
“So we have already started reaching out to the airlines and others asking for information for them to explain to us how they could have such a catastrophic failure in scheduling,” said Graves.
At Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, hundreds of bags that flew on Southwest are stranded. There are also many Louisiana residents stranded in various cities across the country and trying to get home as Southwest continues to cancel thousands of flights daily.
Last week’s winter storm caused mass cancellations and Southwest’s reportedly outdated computer system could not keep track of flight crews. Graves says they need to get to the bottom of this.
“Make sure that we understand why it happened then you come in and start devising solutions whether it is pushing the airlines to make sure people are properly compensated, fixing scheduling systems,” said Graves.
Graves says the federal government may have also played a role by how they manage the skies.
But for now thousands of people are scattered across the country with no way to get back home or to their next designation. Graves says Southwest is not treating its customers properly and the federal government must act.
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