comment: >
  
  Here’s the thing, regulatory agencies have had their teeth filed down by the GOP. Especially with the conservative justices and Supreme Court. 
  They can’t proactively go after stuff. Only retroactively. And only with conclusive evidence. 
  It’s not a “Pete” issue, it’s how our government has neutered the regulatory agencies across the board.
context: Southwest's computer system hasn't been updated since the early 90s. Start there. >
  
  This is an issue with a LOT of companies. I used to work for a Fortune 50 company that had incredibly dated internal software and didn’t seem interested at all in changing things no matter how much IT pressed it. We’re talking hundreds of billions in valuation with a decades old system where you can’t even change basic settings without risking the whole thing crashing. But hey the boss got an 8 figure bonus every year 😬 >
  
  I know a guy who wanted to be an IT guy at his country's national bank. He was obsessed with getting the latest certs, anticipating that they may be running on cutting edge tech that he is not familiar. He got the job aaaand same thing as you said, hundreds of billions runs through there...on 25 year old systems. >
  
  The cost to upgrade these IBM iSeries/zSeries AS400 machines is in the hundreds of millions of US dollars.
  They have decades worth of code changes on them and would take 3+ years to swap out with endless teething issues. >
  
  
  3+ years to swap
  
  I've been in the software industry for 20 years. 3+ years is painfully optimistic. >
  
  I was literally thinking the same thing. Realistically is more around the 5 year ball park. >
  
  At the 5 year mark everyone will agree it is just best to start over. >
  
  Southwest had another meltdown like this last year. There was some planning hiccup where they didn’t have enough pilots at the right airports, and their scheduling software just froze. I got stranded in Denver airport for most of a day while all the other airlines were operating normally. These scheduling meltdowns have mostly made me stop flying Southwest. >
  
  The same thing happened this time, their scheduling software broke again. The weather obviously made it worse, but from what I hear the software was the original cause of the worst of the issues. >
  
  If this happened in an EU country, they would've had to pay passengers a lot of money. In America, it's just business as usual.. 😔 >
  
  Even if Buttigieg could find a way to force Southwest to give out full refunds, a bunch of GoP idiots would probably say that the refunds would "stoke the flames of inflation" or something like that. Someone may even use that exact quote. >
  
  Republicans say dumb shit no matter what. We need to stop pretending like it matters. >
  
  That’s when democrats have done their best. They ignore the right and move forward with their plans. They don’t address whatever crazy lie the right is saying. Instead of giving the lie airtime and giving Americans the ‘both sides’ the left gets done what they need to and Americans then see the benefits. The left is finally figuring out the right will always move the goal posts when they prove their point. Now the right doesn’t even bother coming up with excuses and just straight up lies. >
  
  I disagree. Republicans have been claiming we couldn't do all sorts of popular reforms because of "inflation". Heck we even had to pair down the child tax credit, effectively raising taxes on 100 million Americans.  All to fight inflation they say. And the Democrats who join with Republicans get called moderate centrists. 
  So if raising taxes on Americans is now moderate centrism, then I'm sure forcing Americans to eat their cancelled travel plans is to. >
  
  Yep, it’s disgusting.  We have Sinema and Manchin torpedoing everything beneficial to the middle class and the media calls them “moderate centrists”.  No, they are extremists. Extremists who sometimes do the right thing, but still they are absolutely not “moderate”. 
  Democrats can’t just ignore right wing and media bullshit - they’ve always done that.  They need to call it out for the bs it is. >
  
  When you take $4B hand out, you get to take the government’s phone call. >
  
  Well, to be fair….they may be waiting a few hours before they reach someone one. >
  
  Nothing made me more mad then realizing SW has two customer service lines. 
  The basic one, which can’t get refunds and basically is a person navigating the webpage for you. This useless line has a callback feature so you don’t have to sit on hold, they call you when it’s your turn!
  Conversely, the customer service line for refunds doesn’t utilize the same call back tech and forces you to wait on hold for hours. This is such an obvious affront to customers and should be punishable with heavy fines or something. >
  
  Report them to the DOT. I bet something will be done. >
  
  This isn't an isolated incident with SWA. I travel frequently for business. I used to fly SWA almost exclusively until this year, when I had 3 flights cancelled on me over the space of a few weeks this fall.  (Not for weather, which I can understand). 
  The service on Southwest has been degrading for some time, and there's been zero accountability. >
  
  Tbf, every American airline service has been degrading for decades now. SWA is just going downhill faster. >
  
  This is the type of situation that historically would tank a company entirely or force nationalization in others due to this private company being incapable of “updating with the times”. If the accusations from within are true (they are, lots of their IT infrastructure is just post y2k scare) then that’s ONE part of this story the other part is shitty management that refuses to update as they need to - ceo Bob what’s his face… this is on you and every yes man around you. I hope this hurts all of the administrators… I would be thrilled to see potential jail time if it turns out past malfeasance helped cause this. >
  
  The sticker says this computer is never obsolete so by god Frank you are going to shove this floppy disk in and get to work! >
  
  I'm gonna take my lunch while this new code complies. >
  
  Flight was canceled this morning. Just drove 10 hours to make it to a work meeting in the morning. Wasn’t fun. >
  
  Mine was cancelled around midnight mon/tues, so didnt find out till Tuesday and same. I was in NOLA, supposed to fly to Tampa. Nearest suggested airport was freaking St. Louis lol. I was lucky to find a decent rental at least. >
  
  Impressed you could find a rental. My buddy got one of the last "one way" rentals coming back from Florida on what will be a 14 hour drive home for him back north (he's on the day 2 leg now). >
  
  Does this mean an executive will become the face of the fiasco and be fired?  That's one thing that needs to happen in my opinion.  Otherwise there is no bite. >
  
  What does that even matter?  They made millions already and will have another gig lined up.  Being fired as an executive is not like being fired in a front line position. >
  
  It matters in how it's done.  Much like the cop we've been reading about making the feces sandwich.  He won't be a cop again do to public out cry.  That failure is public and attached.  The same should be done for executives in my opinion.  You think Elizabeth Holmes will get out and be trusted again? >
  
  I remember a time before Herb Kellerman retired when SWA was famous for their customer service, low fares, and doing the next right thing. I flew SWA in those times we all did the "cattle call" thing with slightly ironic grins.
  Thirty years later, SWA pricing is no longer particularly competitive, The cattle call has turned into class warfare, and nobody is grinning. BTW, they lie like rugs when offering free en-route flight changes. >
  
  Kelleher >
  
  Based on the response to this post. We are doomed to self inflict more punishment and we’ll be so close minded that we’ll say thanks for  the abuse from airlines too. >
  
  I would like to take this opportunity to point out that a month or so ago, there was a comment period from Congress that was open to all of us. It was in regard to making airlines provide more legroom in flight. Hardly ANYONE knew about it because it wasnt advertised at all - and that was intentional. 
  It was the perfect opportunity to tell congress that overselling flights should be illegal and that a maximum plane capacity should be maintained so that each flyer can be just a bit more comfortable during your flight.
  They actively do not want to get better about any of this.
  If we gave a damn, we’d have nationalized air and rail a LONG time ago. >
  
  Meanwhile, electric bills go up 400% in Texas. >
  
  As a Texan, I concur >
  
  Accountability will end up being a huge fine that the federal and state governments get whereas the people actually affected by it, the plane passengers, get shit. >
  
  If it's anything like the last rounds of actions by the FAA/DOT it will be mostly refunds and compensations for passengers plus part of the fines getting used for additional refunds that aren't enforceable instead of going to the treasury. >
  
  Lol a corporation being held accountable in the USA 😂 >
  
  That would be the day, wouldn't it? >
  
  If our heroic job creators can’t seem to manage key parts of our infrastructure then their needs to be a serious discussion about nationalization. >
  
  People should be reimbursed more than just their flight. Sitting in an airport for 5 days ruins Christmas. >
  
  And for lost/delayed baggages that were full of Christmas gifts that we now have to ship to relatives ourselves whenever they locate our bags… >
  
  I’ll take the train instead…is what I’d say if US transportation infrastructure wasn’t bullshit >
  
  Say it with me: high speed rail >
  
  Not an option in the US. It would work along the east coast, but anywhere else... we're simply too spread out. East coast involves some vast distances but it's all in a pretty narrow corridor. >
  
  Then they should build one for the east coast >
  
  The owners and CEO’s need to put up these people financially and to stop booking flights knowing weather predictions are bad. >
  
  True but every other airline has recovered from the weather issues while Southwest is still fucked. The scheduling programs can't handle the load of making adjustments for the storm. This is criminal mismanagement. >
  
  I'm never flying back for the holidays >
  
  Yea, isn't unchecked Capitalism great! >
  
  Like what Pete, a 250K fine and a stern talking to? >
  
  A strongly worded letter is more winecave Pete's style. >
  
  Let’s invest in a proper commuter rail system like Europe to at least key geographic locations in the US. Let’s invest in actually fixing the problem and creating competition. I love taking trains in Europe and loath that I have to fly constantly since I live in the US. It’s a miserable experience, uncomfortable, and overpriced.
  Let’s spend part of that military budget connecting our country by rail, reducing the need for cars, and adding real competition to the airlines. >
  
  If the GOP hadn’t blocked the high speed rail Obama tried to build this would not be a problem. >
  
  You don't get a cash refund? >
  
  Doesn't help much when there are no flights in some places till the weekend. Some people are completely stranded. >
  
  Love that he calls for accountability yet he’s the one who won’t hold them accountable >
  
  If the planes aren’t flying, how did passengers’ luggage end up at a different airport? I’ve been seeing this on TV over and over and can’t figure this one out. >
  
  They put the luggage on the first flight to the destination if your flight gets cancelled. So even if you can’t get on a flight your luggage may. It’s pretty annoying when you get stranded in a city and you can’t get your luggage. >
  
  I don’t know the specific circumstances but I suspect the people responsible for handling de-icing not just aircraft but all support equipment may be one issue. It is also a certainty this was just one of a plethora of escalating and unforeseen issues. For some time Southwest has been expanding in the “northern tier” of the country. Airports such as MDW, PHL, MKE, DTW and CLE can be an almost impossible to keep operating in conditions like this.
  As this storm was exceptionally robust: temperature, winds, precipitation (especially heavy snow) the decision makers in Dallas may have miscalculated the company’s ability to maintain the reduced schedule in place (can you say historic?) Many in the decision tree may have never experienced a storm of this magnitude and duration. Northwest Airlines (now Delta) operated in this type of weather every winter since the 20’s. Southwest began flying mostly in Texas and the states bordering Texas in the 70’s. 
  Running an airline is like playing 6 dimensional chess and an event such as this can have a steep learning curve. I am a retired Captain and I have nothing but admiration for those folks at Southwest. Having witnessed Northwest struggle under similar conditions I am cognizant of how difficult a storm even less severe can be. Southwest Airlines is my favorite after the one sending me retirement checks.Everyone at WN (Southwest) are horrified at this mess. Of this I am certain. This event will motivate decision makers to re evaluate how the airline will prepare in the future. Hopefully. >
  
  Good thing I can’t afford to fly anywhere lol >
  
  Honestly, a little personal responsibility is in order here too. The bomb cyclone was predicted a week in advance. However, it’s hard to refund a ticket so I understand people not cancelling on their own. The law should be changed to allow anyone to cancel their flight if bad weather conditions like this are predicted. 
  I remember when SWA used to be a decent carrier. Dunno what happened. I’d still fly with them over an ultra low cost carrier like Frontier but I don’t think that’s saying very much. >
  
  Jeebus guys... this is a pilot strike...
  Not excusing computer issues but give me a break....    
  Ask how many pilots didn't show up to work.    
  How much was SW paying per hour to get them to "cross the picket line". >
  
  I guess what I don’t understand is what kind of fucked up system doesn’t put the passengers and their bags on the same plane >
  
  Time to give the CEO $150 mil to resign and go work for United next year, am I right? >
  
  If its that important then nationalize it. >
  
  High speed rail when? >
  
  Meanwhile people are crying about TicketMaster. Seems like companies are selling things they don't have, Which is illegal. Why do we keep cutting blank tax payer checks to these companies? >
  
  Transportation companies learned from the railroad strike that they can run a skeleton crew to save money and the government will step in and solve their labor problems for them. >
  
  We really need to institute EU style accountability laws for airlines. If they had to start shelling out hundreds of dollars to every passenger for every hour they were late they would get their shit in gear real quick. >
  
  ...that's his job though, right? >
  
  If you read the article, you’ll find he explains in some detail how he plans to hold them accountable. >
  
  I mean, are you referring to this?
  
  I spoke to the CEO of Southwest Airlines. I reminded him of the stepped-up commitments that the airline made to our department over the summer. And we got those commitments in writing about how they take care of customers, passengers when there are issues like this.
  
  Non-binding "commitments?"
  Oh, and giving a refund for a service not rendered? 
  That doesn't rise to the bar of the term "accountability" to me...
  The interviewer obviously noticed this too, and pushed:
  
  But those penalties, those fines clearly didn't prevent what's going on right now. What does that tell you about the level of enforcement?
  
  In respone to which, Buttigieg evaded answering the question.
  I actually did read it, but all I got out of the interview was that the transportation industry owns Buttigieg.