Actress Susan Sarandon expressed contempt for President Joe Biden’s U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg over his failure to address the travel disaster that transpired over the holidays.
“I guess being smart doesn’t necessarily make you practical,” Sarandon tweeted of Buttigieg on Wednesday.
The Thelma & Louise star was responding to a tweet by journalist David Sirota, who wrote, “Documents show that before this week’s travel disaster, state officials of both parties warned @SecretaryPete about the mess, begging him to crack down.”
Sirota added that Buttigieg “responded by going on national TV to insist travel ‘is going to get better by the holidays.'”
Three months ago, the Transportation Secretary told late-night comedian James Corden that airline travel would improve by the holiday season.
Buttigieg has reportedly ignored state attorneys general’s repeated requests to protect customers and hold airlines accountable for canceling flights in the months leading up to the ongoing holiday travel fiasco.
The holiday travel period has been plagued by a winter storm and thousands of delayed and cancelled flights, the majority of which have occurred at Southwest Airlines. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
As a result, this year’s Christmas holiday travel season has been plagued with thousands of flight cancelations, primarily by Southwest Airlines, which failed to regain its footing after a massive winter storm hit the United States.
As of Thursday morning, travelers who were relying on Southwest Airlines to get them home were mostly still stranded. This occurred barely 24-hours after Buttigieg publicly upbraided the carrier and warned it to do better — or else.
Tired Southwest passengers ended up looking for alternative airlines or even renting cars to get them on their way as Southwest’s CEO said it could be next week before the flight fiasco is over.
Meanwhile, the airline is continuing to cancel thousands of flights day by day — canceling nearly 5,000 flights in two days alone — as it attempts to recover from what it has described as “operational challenges.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.