Buttigieg calls for accountability as Southwest Airlines cancellation 'meltdown' worsens

[basquebromance]

 

[basquebromance]

 

[otto105]

It's refreshing to see how Buttigieg addressed his own accountability as the Transportation Secretary and his dedication to negotiate and mitigate a rail strike.

What a piece of work, and exactly what one would expect from a diversity hire.

Sure sure fluffer

It's not the fact that Southwest Airlines is just like the texas power grid on doing things on the cheap.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/12/28/southwest-airlines-flight-cancellations/

 

[basquebromance]

 

[otto105]

The five?

Fucking hilarious

I love it when white Qwatters watch those chicks swing their dicks around.

 

[SweetSue92]

We used to fly Southwest years ago and always had a good experience. Lately we fly Delta and it's even better. Flights are always on time and sometimes early. We are committed Delta flyers now, that's for sure!

 

[22lcidw]

Sure sure fluffer

It's not the fact that Southwest Airlines is just like the texas power grid on doing things on the cheap.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/12/28/southwest-airlines-flight-cancellations/

Mayor Pete knows better though. We were told that. The failure endlessly pushed from Progs was Joe's administration's fault. February of 2021. Joe was the installed leader. Is some of this also getting rid of older white pilots to put diverse pilots in.

 

[pknopp]

Southwest’s cost-cutting and greed is hurting consumers. The lack of oversight and accountability from Secretary Buttigeig’s DOT led to Southwest’s cavalier attitude towards consumers. This isn’t a new issue, people have been calling out the DOT for MONTHS

The issue goes well beyond anything Biden has done.

It's an issue that goes back to when corporations stopped caring about their customers as #1 and put "shareholder value" as #1.

No, Biden nor anyone else will address that.

 

[basquebromance]

 

[otto105]

Mayor Pete knows better though. We were told that. The failure endlessly pushed from Progs was Joe's administration's fault. February of 2021. Joe was the installed leader. Is some of this also getting rid of older white pilots to put diverse pilots in.

Awwww, more white boi grievance and excuse making.

Go get some game and come back.

 

[basquebromance]

 

[SmokeALib]

Same as the railroads - profit over people.

What happened to Southwest Airlines?

From Larry Lonero:
I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years. I’ve given my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. And quite honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my family.

Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. Unfortunately, the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a slow motion train wreck for sometime. And we’ve been begging our leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. What happened yesterday started two decades ago.

Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. He was a very operationally oriented leader. Herb spent lots of time on the front line. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people who ran it. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership to the front line managers. We were a tight operation from top to bottom. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. Everything that was needed to run a first class operation. When Herb retired in 2004 Gary Kelly became the new CEO.

Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. He did not spend much time on the front lines. He didn’t engage front line employees much. When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither do the lower levels of leadership.

Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person responsible for day to day operations). The new COO had little or no operational background. This trickled down through the lower levels of leadership, as well.

They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built.

But as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. There was little investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to operate efficiently and consistently. As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong?

We were a motivated, willing and proud employee group wanting to serve our customers and uphold the tradition of our beloved airline, the airline we built and the airline that the traveling public grew to cheer for and luv. But we were watching in frustration and disbelief as our once amazing airline was becoming a house of cards.

A half dozen small scale meltdowns occurred during the mid to late 2010’s. With each mini meltdown Leadership continued to ignore the pleas and warnings of the employees in the trenches. We were still operating with 1990’s technology. We didn’t have the tools we needed on the line to operate the sophisticated and large airline we had become. We could see that the wheels were about ready to fall off the bus. But no one in leadership would heed our pleas.

When COVID happened SWA scaled back considerably (as did all of the airlines) for about two years. This helped conceal the serious problems in technology, infrastructure and staffing that were occurring and being ignored. But as we ramped back up the lack of attention to the operation was waiting to show its ugly head.

Gary Kelly retired as CEO in early 2022. Bob Jordan was named CEO. He was a more operationally oriented leader. He replaced our Chief Operating Officer with a very smart man and they announced their priority would be to upgrade our airline’s technology and provide the frontline employees the operational tools we needed to care for our customers and employees. Finally, someone acknowledged the elephant in the room.

But two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And, unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system.

The frontline employees were ready and on station. We were properly staffed. We were at the airports. Hell, we were ON the airplanes. But our antiquated software systems failed coupled with a decades old system of having to manage 20,000 frontline employees by phone calls. No automation had been developed to run this sophisticated machine.

We had a routine winter storm across the Midwest last Thursday. A larger than normal number flights were cancelled as a result. But what should have been one minor inconvenient day of travel turned into this nightmare. After all, American, United, Delta and the other airlines operated with only minor flight disruptions.

The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us. To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday.

I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell.

 

[jotathought]

Sure sure fluffer

It's not the fact that Southwest Airlines is just like the texas power grid on doing things on the cheap.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/12/28/southwest-airlines-flight-cancellations/

Government propped up airlines with millions of dollars during pandemic times, and apparently Southwest didn't advance its technology. Regardless, Buttigieg is more focused on positioning himself for another presidential run through photo opportunities and virtue signaling. He's a sad diversity hire and his actions speak louder than words.

All you have to do is look at his recent performance with the rail unions ...

 

[mudwhistle]

but for 1 airline, the cancellation rate is down to 5 percent. Southwest Airlines is having a meltdown though

A Southwest Airline pilot said "Let's Go Brandon" last year during an announcement.....so I can see why Pete Buttplug and the corrupt media is attacking them.

 

[otto105]

Government propped up airlines with millions of dollars during pandemic times, and apparently Southwest didn't advance its technology. Regardless, Buttigieg is more focused on positioning himself for another presidential run through photo opportunities and virtue signaling. He's a sad diversity hire and his actions speak louder than words.

All you have to do is look at his recent performance with the rail unions ...

Sure sure, except Southwest's problems didn't start with the pandemic. They understaffed themselves and milked old technology until it broke.

And you still suck your dick in it.

 

[jotathought]

Sure sure, except Southwest's problems didn't start with the pandemic. They understaffed themselves and milked old technology until it broke.

And you still suck your dick in it.

The thread is about Buttigieg and his response about accountability --- a key value he misses himself as he's demonstrated these last 2 years. Southwest has problems .. no doubt .. and the irony of Buttigieg to focus on accountability is laughable.

I'm not into hairy asses . and I'm an exit only guy. Nice try. Cheers.

 

[otto105]

The thread is about Buttigieg and his response about accountability --- a key value he misses himself as he's demonstrated these last 2 years. Southwest has problems .. no doubt .. and the irony of Buttigieg to focus on accountability is laughable.

I'm not into hairy asses . and I'm an exit only guy. Nice try. Cheers.

Just how is the government accountable for leadership failure at Southwest?

 

[jotathought]

Just how is the government accountable for leadership failure at Southwest?

I didn't state that .. Buttigieg calls for accountability of Southwest, while simultaneously lacking in responsibility in his current role (e.g. Just look at the rail union agreement as an example). It would be like Joe Biden getting after someone for not being honest with a story or Kamala Harris getting after someone for not visiting the border.

 

[mudwhistle]

I didn't state that .. Buttigieg calls for accountability of Southwest, while simultaneously lacking in responsibility in his current role (e.g. Just look at the rail union agreement as an example). It would be like Joe Biden getting after someone for not being honest with a story or Kamala Harris getting after someone for not visiting the border.

Buttplug is a smooth talking hypocrite.

 

[otto105]

I didn't state that .. Buttigieg calls for accountability of Southwest, while simultaneously lacking in responsibility in his current role (e.g. Just look at the rail union agreement as an example). It would be like Joe Biden getting after someone for not being honest with a story or Kamala Harris getting after someone for not visiting the border.

How is the rail agreement not accountability?