For the many passengers whose holiday travel was disrupted by the meltdown at Southwest Airlines, one question now looms large: How much will they be compensated?
In a pointed letter to the airline's chief executive, Bob Jordan, Pete Buttigieg made his opinion clear: "The cancellation and delays at least since December 24 are due to circumstances within the airline's control."
The key word is control. According to Bob Mann, an airline industry consultant, controllable issues are things the carrier is in control of. The legal obligations of the airline may depend on what happens when something outside of the company's control causes a problem within the airline's control.
It could end up costing the company a lot of money. According to Mr. Mann, there are probably two million customers affected. Five to six hundred million dollars are what they are looking at. The money could go here.
If an airline cancels a passenger's flight or makes a significant change in the flight, regardless of the reason, airlines are required to provide a prompt refunds to passengers.
If your flight was canceled or delayed and you didn't fly on Southwest, you're due a refund of your ticket. Southwest is asking passengers who haven't received their refunds to submit a request through the website.
Southwest told The Times that passengers who faced a cancellation or significant delay between December 24, 2022, and January 2, 2023, could submit receipts via email or on the company website. The email said that they would honor reasonable requests for reimbursement.
It was not clear what a reasonable request would be. Southwest is being pressured to be generous.
The Department of Transportation would take action to hold Southwest accountable if the airline did not fulfill its commitments to passengers stranded by circumstances under its control. In the past, the airline has promised to provide meals when passengers have to wait for three hours or more for a new flight, and hotel accommodations and ground transportation to and from hotels for passengers who face overnight delays.
The category they are in is more complex.
Southwest doesn't rebook passengers on competitors' flights, unlikelegacy carriers like Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.
Mr. Buttigieg said in his letter that Southwest will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for alternate transportation, such as other airline tickets.
Mr. Mann said it would be a case by case basis. He said booking an expensive flight might show you had a serious obligation. He said to use the Southwest tool and keep your receipts.
When his Southwest flight was canceled, MichaelQuidort had to rebook onto United. The Southwest system crashed when he tried to submit a claim after paying $295 for his United flight. He is not that hopeful that he will be reimbursed. He said that everything has been a mess with them and that he doesn't have a lot of faith in their ability to turn it around.
There is a human cost to the airline's meltdown, according to a travel expert with Scott's CheapFlights. She said that some people don't get the flexibility of taking time off whenever they want. One of the only periods you can rely on is your holiday period.
It's not clear how people could be compensated for that loss.
Ms. Nastro wondered if the passengers who incurred non-refundable expenses would be covered by Southwest. There are a lot of cases like this.
The flight from Houston to West Palm Beach was on time. She wore her mother's clothes for the holiday because her luggage still hasn't arrived. She said she spent $500 to finish her travels because she didn't have enough money. Ms. Neary didn't expect to see the baggage again for weeks after she reported it to Southwest. She said it was in Baltimore.
Travelers can report lost bags on Southwest's website. According to Mr. Buttigieg, Southwest is required to reimburse passengers up to $3,800 for direct or consequential damages caused by the disappearance, damage to, or delay in the delivery of a passenger's baggage.
According to a professor of management, marketing and operations at a university, Southwest got through Covid well. One of the first major carriers to return to profitability was them.
He warns that the next few months could be rough for the company. It would take a few months to transfer over from their poor back-end crew scheduling system even if they bought the latest and greatest system.
He's taking his chance. I have Southwest tickets and I am not canceling them.
There is no way that this event can bankrupt the airline. He said it could handle any remuneration it decided to give.
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