in Newswire Published on January 5, 2023

Southwest Fails to Refund Customers for Holiday Flight Cancellations, Class Action Says [UPDATE]

Last Updated on December 19, 2023

Capdeville v. Southwest Airlines Co.

Filed: December 30, 2022 ◆§ 2:22-cv-05590

Southwest Airlines Company faces a class action over its failure to provide prompt refunds for thousands of flight cancellations during the 2022-2023 winter holidays.

Defendant(s)

Southwest Airlines Co.

Law(s)

State(s)

Louisiana

December 19, 2023 – Southwest Settles with Feds Over Inquiry Into December 2022 Flight Cancellations

Though the proposed class action detailed on this page was voluntarily dismissed last summer, Southwest Airlines will pay $140 million to settle a federal investigation into an avalanche of canceled flights that stranded thousands in December 2022.

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Per the Associated Press, most of the $140 million settlement, which includes a $35 million fine, will go toward compensating future passengers. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) considers the damages “an incentive for Southwest to avoid repeating last winter’s mess,” the AP wrote.

The Southwest flight cancellation settlement is reportedly the largest ever assessed by the government against an airline for violations of consumer protection laws.

Per the USDOT, Southwest has already paid consumers who experienced flight disruptions last December more than $600 million in refunds. However, the agency found that Southwest failed to provide prompt refunds to some passengers and timely status updates to others, among other widespread issues.

Of the $140 million settlement, $72 million will be used toward future passenger compensation, with Southwest agreeing to provide $90 million in vouchers between April 2024 and April 2027. These vouchers, which the government approximates are worth 80 percent of their face value, will be given, upon request, to travelers who arrive at their destinations three or more hours later than scheduled due to delays or cancellations.

The remaining $33 million of the assessed penalty will be credited back to Southwest for compensation already handed out in the form of frequent flyer points to impacted passengers. The USDOT wrote that the credit is in recognition of the “substantial value provided to consumers” and to incentivize other airlines to “take similar measures during operational challenges.”

The proposed class action outlined on this page was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice by the plaintiff on July 25, 2023. Court documents do not cite a reason as to why the plaintiff opted to dismiss the case.

More information on the Southwest Department of Transportation settlement can be found here.

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Southwest Airlines Company faces a proposed class action over its alleged failure to provide prompt refunds for thousands of flight cancellations during the 2022-2023 winter holidays.

The 11-page lawsuit alleges Southwest, the nation’s largest domestic air carrier, has violated its own contract terms and federal aviation regulations by failing to provide consumers reimbursement or comparable accommodations after it began canceling flights nationwide on December 23 of last year due to a purported “weather-driven issue.”

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However, the Department of Transportation stated the cancellations were a result of the company’s “decision and actions,” according to the suit, and Southwest CEO Bob Jordan confirmed the airline needed to upgrade its legacy systems, the case says.

According to the complaint, Southwest’s Contract of Carriage mandates that “in the event a flight is delayed, canceled, or diverted” by the airline, it will, upon request, either rebook customers on the next available Southwest flight or refund the unused portion of the customer’s ticket.

Additionally, Southwest’s Customer Service Commitment states that refunds must be issued within seven business days after a consumer makes a refund request for tickets purchased with a credit card and 20 days after a refund request for tickets purchased with cash, the filing relays.

The case explains that in response to the “internally created crisis,” Southwest instructed customers to submit a receipt for flight cancellations from December 24, 2022 through January 2, 2023 to be considered for reimbursement. Nevertheless, Southwest has failed to provide refunds for canceled tickets purchased with credit cards within seven days, the complaint argues.

The plaintiff, a Louisiana passenger, claims the airline did not provide him with any comparable accommodations on another flight, nor did it reimburse him for the unused fare after canceling his two tickets for a December 27 flight from New Orleans to Portland, Oregon. Instead, Southwest only offered the man credit for use on a future flight, the lawsuit contends.

The lawsuit looks to cover anyone in the United States who purchased tickets for travel on a Southwest Airlines flight scheduled to operate from December 24, 2022 through the date of a class certification order, whose flight(s) were canceled by Southwest, and who was not provided a refund and reimbursed for incurred expenses as a result of the cancellation.

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