Southwest Airlines Hit with Class Action Lawsuit Over Marketing Emails to Washington Consumers

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims Southwest Airlines has violated the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act by sending emails promoting sales and offers with false and misleading time constraints.

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According to the 15-page lawsuit, Southwest Airlines’ promotional emails frequently advertise various time-limited sales, prices, discounts and other offers that the airline always intended to extend beyond the timeframe represented in the initial emails. The complaint alleges that Southwest Airlines employs these misleading time limits to “create the illusion of a good deal” and deceive customers into making purchases “in a hurry,” for fear of missing out on the deal.

As an example, the complaint cites a promotion Southwest allegedly advertised in February 2025 about a “Promotional Companion Pass.” Although a February 20 email claimed that was the “last day” the promotion was available, a February 21 email was sent with the subject line “EXTENDED: Promotional Companion Pass offer ends today, so register now!” the lawsuit relays.

According to the case, sending commercial emails with false or misleading subject lines is strictly prohibited in Washington under the Commercial Electronic Mail Act. The complaint alleges that Southwest Airlines knew or should have known that it was sending misleading emails to Washington residents because it has access to several sources of information about consumers’ addresses or locations, including its own user profiles.

The Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit seeks to represent anyone who, while a resident of Washington state, received from or on behalf of Southwest Airlines an email whose subject line claimed that:

• A particular discount, sale, price or other offer was being extended, even though Southwest always intended to offer the sale through the extension period;
• A discount, sale, price or other offer was just starting, even though it had already been on offer;
• The recipient was being granted “early” access to a sale that was accessible to everyone at the same time; or
• A discount, sale, price or other offer was time-limited or ending when Southwest continued to offer it for a longer period of time.

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