Being Grounded Doesn't Always Stop The Turbulence

Never thought I'd say this, but maybe they should have flown Spirit.

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stress fail bad new denial European woman hiding face under the clothes. She is oulling sweater on her head.There are a few parts of the government that get a lot of the shine. The Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and, according to some conspiracists, Twitter. That said, I am a firm believer in giving the drummer some — The Department of Justice is about to have several Boeing 747’s worth of work on its hands.

Between Dec. 23 and Dec. 27, Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 10,000 flights, more than 50 percent of its schedule, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking company. Southwest has apologized, blaming its “operational challenges” on the way severe weather intersected with its scheduling tool.

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All airlines are required by federal law to give customers full refunds—not credits—when they cancel flights for any reason. Southwest is also one of many airlines that have publicly committed to covering the cost of a hotel stay when they are responsible for the cancellation.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of this, I think it makes sense to give a little primer on the events that led to this holiday season nightmare.

Yup. CEO getting paid $9m+ a year. Over $3B in COVID relief funds that could have went toward infrastructure that clearly did not, and thousands of would be fliers who were offered funny money instead of what Southwest was legally obligated to compensate them with. I’m gonna go ahead and guess that if and when this goes to trial, the jury won’t really be buying the “We did everything we could do to prevent this!” excuses. I think that the airline will realize that their business decisions didn’t put their counsel in the best position when the sheer number of star witnesses start strolling in. When you screw over that many people, you really bump up the odds of pissing off the wrong person.

Andrea Minor is so well-versed in airline passenger rights that she can recite federal code. On Monday, when a ticket agent in Austin informed her that her flight back to El Paso had been canceled, she knew what to ask for.

She expected a refund for the remainder of her Southwest trip, she said as politely but firmly as she could. There was no way she and her daughter were going to stay in Austin, their layover city, until Saturday, the next date Southwest had availability. Her 71-year-old mother back in El Paso was sick and so she planned to fly with another airline that would get her there sooner.

The Southwest agent listened, Minor recalled in a phone interview, and then proceeded to print out two vouchers for $200 each that she could use to buy a future ticket on Southwest.

By refusing to offer Minor a refund, the company was blatantly violating Department of Transportation rules, something additional interviews show they have been doing over and over again this week.

Minor was well within her rights to demand proper relief in response to Southwest’s discounted justice. I wouldn’t be surprised if many people have been had by airline companies that have made the most of their clientele not being up to date on the DOT’s rules and regulations, those old days are being undone by TikTok.

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@erikakullberg

Last chance to join my FREE 7 Day Money Bootcamp. Click the link in bio to sign up. Kickstart your 2023 Money Goals the right way. (Sign-ups close on Dec 31) Know the FINE PRINT for Southwest! 🤯🤫 To review the key points I talked about in this video, see below: For Tip 1: Directly from the Department of Transportation: “If your flight is cancelled and you choose to cancel your trip as a result, you are entitled to a refund for the unused transportation – even for non-refundable tickets.  You are also entitled to a refund for any bag fee that you paid, and any extras you may have purchased, such as a seat assignment.” Search “Department of Transportation Flight Delays & Cancellations” to find this language. For Tip 2: Directly from the Department of Transportation: “Airlines are required to compensate passengers for reasonable, verifiable, and actual incidental expenses that they may incur while their bags are delayed – subject to the maximum liability limits.” Search “Department of Transportation Delayed Baggage” to find this language. On Southwest’s Contract of Carriage, you can find information about their baggage policies in Section 7. If your bag is delayed/damaged/lost, you MUST follow the steps listed on their Contract of Carriage (starts on page 43, subsection called “Claims”). You’ll need to get a Baggage Report Number from them. For Tip 3: Search “Department of Transportation Airline Customer Service Dashboard” to find the dashboard that shows the 4 things you’re entitled to that I talked about.

♬ original sound – Money Lawyer Erika

And you thought that app was just for dancing trends! Erika’s video is chock full of helpful information about the remedies the cancellees are actually entitled to — if this happened to me I would definitely take advantage of the clothing provision she mentioned above.  Did anyone have China indirectly aiding in the democratization of legal knowledge at a major airline’s expense on their 2022 bingo sheet. It wasn’t on mine, nor was Twitter’s implosion vis à vis Costco brand Lex Luthor. Fear not, I have the feeling that my legal bingo sheet will fair a bit better for 2023 — I’m putting a class action Southwest suit right at the middle of it.

Southwest Owes Passengers Refunds. This Is What They’ve Been Doing Instead. [SLATE]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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