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🇺🇸 What's Next for Southwest Airlines?

🇺🇸 What's Next for Southwest Airlines?

Plus, is this person North Korea's next leader?

January 05, 2023

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Good morning, and happy Thursday! Experts just discovered a never-before-seen self-portrait of this famous artist. Here's the link if you want to Gogh and check it out!

Plus, is this person North Korea's next leader?

Also, today's partner is hooking our readers up with a 50% winter sale. Click here to check out the newest arrivals.

FLAG POLLS

📉 January 3, 2023: Americans Largely Pessimistic About US Prospects in 2023: 90% expect political conflict in US; 85% predict international discord (Gallup)

🐘 January 3, 2023: Majority of GOP voters support replacing McDaniel as RNC chair: 73% want new RNC leader, 6% want McDaniel reelected, 21% aren't sure (The Hill)

📉 January 3, 2023: President Biden Job Approval: Approve 46, Disapprove 52 (Rasmussen Reports)

📈 January 1, 2023: Brexit Poll: Two-thirds of Britons now support future referendum on rejoining the EU (Savanta / Independent)

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QUICK CLICKS

Six Speaker Votes, Fed Wants Flexibility, Cellphones and Cruise Missiles

US: House breaks again after McCarthy loses six speaker votes (ABC News)

Economy: Fed wants 'flexibility' on rates as inflation remains key focus, minutes show (Reuters)

US: Idaho quadruple murder suspect on flight back to the state after waiving extradition from Pennsylvania (CNN)

Sports: Cardiologist Dr. Dave Montgomery shares his theory on what happened to Damar Hamlin (Fox Business)

World: Ukraine war live updates: Russia blames use of cellphones for deadly Makiivka attack; Putin sends new hypersonic cruise missiles to Atlantic (CNBC)

US: Cause of death revealed for millionaire pharma exec Gigi Jordan, who killed 8-year-old son (NY Post)

Weather: California storm updates: Atmospheric river and bomb cyclone approach the coast (NPR)

US: Jeremy Renner's Chest Collapsed, Torso Crushed by Plow, According to 911 Call (TMZ)

TRAVEL

What's Next for Southwest Airlines?

After holiday travel chaos unfolded for Southwest Airlines passengers, the White House has threatened to hit the company with fines if refunds aren’t issued in full. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre vowed that the DOT will hold Southwest accountable, adding the airline failed its customers.

Reporting from the Left: Southwest reports progress on refunds after holiday chaos but sees new delays (NBC News)

Reporting from the Right: Southwest pilot union blasts airline management over holiday meltdown (Breitbart)

From The Flag: Southwest Airlines says its operations largely returned to normal as of this past weekend. During the meltdown, 60% of its flights were canceled – totaling over 15,000 flights in all. Here’s more from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Congressional Dems Feign Compassion, But Really Want Control

Democrats pretend to care about consumers but really just want more federal control over the airline industry.
Southwest took money from the government during the pandemic, as did other airlines – but they’ve struggled the most.
Former candidate for president Pete Buttigieg’s political future may have been significantly harmed by this mess, given he is Transportation Secretary.

“Pete Buttigieg, Air Traffic Controller” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: “The scheduling meltdown at Southwest Airlines is one for the business record books, and the carrier will pay a price for months or years in damaged reputation. The only worse result for seething passengers would be to put Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in charge. … The Christmas week storm caused thousands of flight cancellations, though most airlines are recovering. … But Democrats care less about stranded passengers than they do about gaining more federal control over the airline industry. … Airlines have struggled this year, but government has contributed to the problem. Covid lockdowns cost them business for two years. The federal aid that kept them afloat came with a mandate not to lay off or furlough employees. This caused airlines to offer retirement and buyout packages to preserve cash, leading to a pilot and crew shortage.”

“Cancellation-plagued Southwest has raked in billions from US government for upkeep” Gabe Kaminsky, Washington Examiner: “The federal government has long given subsidies to airlines for maintenance and upkeep. As part of the CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill signed by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 and meant to help people amid the spread of COVID-19, Southwest pulled in more than $3.3 billion for payroll support… In addition, the Treasury Department agreed to purchase over 1 million shares of Southwest stock… (It also) received over $3.8 billion in subsidies and American Rescue Plan Act funding… The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill was signed by President Joe Biden in March 2021 … The chaos in connection to Southwest this holiday season comes as other airlines, which also took massive amounts in COVID-19 relief, fare better in getting customers from one place to the other. Southwest's over 2,500 canceled flights on Wednesday account for 62% of such cases… (per) FlightAware.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Is Pete Buttigieg’s political future grounded forever after Southwest holiday travel disaster? Colin Reed, Fox News Opinion

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Southwest’s Failures: The Result of Lax Regulation and Old Tech

Southwest Airlines has had outdated software for years, a well-known and shamefully unaddressed crisis waiting to happen.
The majority of press coverage regarding this incident is highly biased, in that federal officials failed to do their job, but aren’t being held accountable.
Southwest is no longer a customer-first company, and a private airline should not monopolistically dominate a public airport like Midway Airport in Chicago.

“The Shameful Open Secret Behind Southwest’s Failure” Zeynep Tufekci, New York Times Opinion: “Computers become increasingly capable and powerful by the year… (but) even with the shiniest hardware, the software that plays a critical role inside many systems is too often antiquated and, in some cases, decades old. This failing appears to be a key factor in why Southwest Airlines couldn’t return to business as usual the way other airlines did after last week’s major winter storm. More than 15,000 of its flights were canceled starting on Dec. 22, including more than 2,300 canceled this past Thursday — almost a week after the storm had passed. It’s been an open secret within Southwest for some time, and a shameful one, that the company desperately needed to modernize its scheduling systems. Software shortcomings contributed to previous, smaller-scale meltdowns, and Southwest unions had repeatedly warned about the software. Without more government regulation and oversight and greater accountability, we may see more fiascos like this one.”

“Liberal Corporate Media Ignores Government Wrongdoing When Liberals Are to Blame” David Sirota, Jacobin: “As up to one million travelers were stranded by Southwest Airlines over the holiday season, we uncovered documents showing that Democratic state officials and congressional lawmakers had repeatedly begged transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg to toughen rules to deter airlines from mistreating their customers. … Buttigieg — the sole airline regulator under federal law — has plenty of power at his disposal. But he’s refused to use that authority, even after Southwest had experienced a similar meltdown a year ago. … part of a larger pattern of lax regulation and weak enforcement that by some measures have been even weaker than those under the Trump administration. This is hardly surprising, considering Buttigieg is a political appointee who had never managed a major transportation system before being given his Cabinet job. His formative experience was working at a corporate consulting giant that would later suggest ways airlines could extract more fees from passengers.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: More stolen Christmases than the Grinch: Lessons from the great Southwest Airlines meltdown Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune

FLAG THIS

The Status of Refunds and Rewards For Rankled Flyers

Earlier this week, Southwest Airlines announced it would be offering 25,000 rewards points to passengers affected by the holiday travel meltdown. The company called it a “gesture of goodwill.”

A class action lawsuit has also been filed on behalf of those impacted. The lawsuit accuses Southwest of offering a passenger credit toward future flights, but not a refund.

Southwest has said it could take weeks before it can issue refunds to all its customers, but told Forbes it’s working through that process.

Do you think Southwest Airlines will be able to win back customers?

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

Golden Gate Construction Begins, Just a Small Town Girl, Grenade Nerf Balls

Right: A pedestrian poses at the old railing on opening day, 1937.

On January 5, 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge, as workers start excavating 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages.

StudyFinds: Hooked on ‘likes’: How social media can rewire children’s brains

The Drive: How a Small-Town Girl Ended Up in the Cockpit of an A-10 Warthog

Domino: A Genius Way to Upcycle All Those Coffee-Table Books Collecting Dust

Today I Learned the US Army once designed an anti-armor grenade that would be the same size and shape as a football so US soldiers knew how to sling it. The prototype was built using a hollowed-out Nerf ball.

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