[ Before the holiday travel nightmare, attorneys general begged
the Transportation Secretary and Congress to crack down. "The
Department of Transportation has yet to fine any airline a single
dollar!"]
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STATE OFFICIALS WARNED BUTTIGIEG ABOUT AIRLINE MESS  
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David Sirota and Andrew Perez
December 28, 2022
The Lever
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_ Before the holiday travel nightmare, attorneys general begged the
Transportation Secretary and Congress to crack down. "The Department
of Transportation has yet to fine any airline a single dollar!" _

Southwest Flight Cancellations Continue as Problems Remain, , NBC Bay
Area News/KNTV

 

Southwest Airlines stranding thousands of Americans during the holiday
season is not some unexpected crisis nor the normal consequence of
inclement weather — and federal officials are not powerless
bystanders. Before the debacle, attorneys general from both parties
were sounding alarms about regulators’ lax oversight of the airline
industry, imploring them and congressional lawmakers to crack down.

The warnings came just before Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
appeared on national television insisting travel would improve by the
holidays, and before Southwest executives — flush with cash from a
government bailout — announced new dividend payouts to shareholders,
while paying themselves millions of dollars.

Four months before Southwest’s mass cancellation of flights, 38
state attorneys general wrote
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congressional leaders declaring that Buttigieg’s agency “failed to
respond and to provide appropriate recourse” to thousands of
consumer complaints about airlines customer service.

“Americans are justifiably frustrated that federal government
agencies charged with overseeing airline consumer protection are
unable or unwilling to hold the airline industry accountable,” they
wrote in August, arguing that Congress must pass legislation
empowering state officials to enforce consumer protection laws against
the airlines.

Weeks before that, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) sent
Buttigieg a letter
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of "the deeply troubling and escalating pattern of airlines delaying
and canceling flights" particularly during holidays. She outlined
various actions he could take to deter the practice.

The demands for tougher enforcement were echoed
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a concurrent letter to Buttigieg by Democratic U.S. Senators Elizabeth
Warren and Alex Padilla.

“Better By The Holidays"

Currently, Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation are the
primary regulator over airlines thanks to a 44-year-old law preempting
state consumer protection authority. Model legislation
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by the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly think
tank, and backed by consumer groups would empower citizens and state
law enforcement officials to sue airlines that violate consumer
protection laws.

One week after the letter from state attorneys general,
Buttigieg said
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Late Show With James Corden_ that airline travel “is going to get
better by the holidays.” He added that “we're really pressing the
airlines to deliver better service.”

Earlier this month, Southwest — which received $3.2 billion
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government support during the pandemic — announced it was
reinstating its quarterly dividend for shareholders, at an annual cost
of $428 million
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The company made that announcement just days after its CEO — who is
paid $9 million a year
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airline has been slow to modernize its computer and scheduling
systems
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whose breakdown helped fuel
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holiday travel disaster.

“If you took our crews, we have a lot moving all over the
country,” said
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CEO Bob Jordan. “If they get reassigned, someone needs to call them
or chase them down in the airport and tell them.”

Michael Santoro, vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots
Association, told the _Los Angeles Times_
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the company’s “internal software can’t handle massive
cancellations. The company hasn’t invested the money into scheduling
infrastructure to support the network they have developed.”

While forsaking those technology investments, Southwest paid a handful
of executives more than $112 million
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the last five years, according to executive compensation data compiled
by Salary.com.

One week before the Southwest scheduling disaster, 34 attorneys
general led by Colorado Democrat Phil Weiser sent another letter
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“impose significant fines for cancellations and extended delays that
are not weather-related or otherwise unavoidable.”

“Yet To Fine Any Airline A Single Dollar”

Buttigieg now seems to be threatening some sort of enforcement
action, tweeting
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Tuesday: “Southwest passengers have experienced unacceptable
disruptions and customer service conditions. I have made clear to
their executives that our department will hold Southwest accountable
for making things right with their customers and employees.”

But critics charge that his agency has continued to do almost nothing
in the face of egregious abuses of consumers.

“The Department of Transportation has announced a rule on refunds
that won’t take effect for at least 2-3 years, sent the airline CEOs
a letter, and promised to unveil an information dashboard,” wrote
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in September 2022. “It has yet to fine any U.S. airline a single
dollar for unpaid refunds, flight cancellations, or systematic
violations of consumer protection law, and has issued fewer
enforcement orders in 2021 than in any single year of the Trump and
Obama administrations.”

Under pressure, transportation regulators subsequently fined Frontier
Airlines, but AELP noted
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Buttigieg's agency declined to do the same against much larger more
politically powerful airlines, despite there being far more complaints
against them.

Buttigieg was originally appointed to lead the Transportation
Department despite having no relevant experience in transportation
management. His former consulting firm, McKinsey, has published
reports suggesting ways for airlines to extract
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fees
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consumers.

In recent months, Southwest has been lobbying Buttigieg’s department
on “airline customer service and consumer protection issues” and
“fare fees,” according to federal
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Southwest has spent more than $2 million
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lobbying since Biden took office and Buttigieg became Secretary of
Transportation. Last year, the company paid
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least $796,000 to the airline lobbying group Airlines for America.

_[DAVID SIROTA is Founder/editor in chief, The Lever; Oscar nominated
for DON'T LOOK UP; Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign speechwriter
in 2020._

_ANDREW PEREZ is Senior editor and reporter at The Lever covering
money and influence.]_

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* SouthWest Airlines
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* Pete Buttigieg
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* Biden Administration
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* airline industry
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* air transportation
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* airlines
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* air transportation crisis
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* travel nightmare
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