Southwest Airlines under investigation after mass flight cancellations

The US government is launching an investigation after the mass cancellation of flights by Southwest Airlines which left travellers stranded during the holiday period.

The Department of Transportation has just started a ‘comprehensive investigation into Southwest Airlines’ holiday debacle that stranded millions.’

CEO of the airline, Bob Jordan, told CNBC: “I can't say it enough. We messed up.” He added that the company has to work to rebuild its customers’ trust: “We took good will out of the bank. We know that. We have work to do to repair trust, but our customers are very loyal and we're seeing that loyalty,” he said.

The airline cancelled more than 16,000 flights during a busy week in December, which left many people stranded during the holiday travel period, because of a massive winter storm and issues with its scheduling software.

The investigation is trying to establish whether Southwest Airlines knowingly scheduled more flights in late December than it could actually facilitate. If this is found to be true, it would be considered a deceptive practice under federal law.

The transport department said that the airline ‘must provide timely refunds and reimbursements’ to compensate passengers.

This comes after InsureMyTrip criticised Southwest Airlines’ reimbursement policy.