Southwest Airlines is facing an investigation into flight cancellations that took place in late December which affected thousands of passengers and caused an estimated millions of dollars’ worth of losses to the company, with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) looking into potential “unrealistic scheduling” of flights.
In the week ended Dec. 29, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 16,000 flights after its crew-scheduling system got overloaded and could not handle changes in staffing. A “rigorous and comprehensive investigation into Southwest Airlines’ holiday debacle that stranded millions” of passengers is in its early stages, the DOT said in a statement, according to Reuters….