Southwest Offers Frequent Flyer Points to Stranded Passengers; Connecticut Sen. Blumenthal Calls for “Airline Passenger Bill of Rights”
Edited by: Fern Sidman
Southwest Airlines is trying to make travelers who were caught in its surge of canceled flights over the holidays feel a bit better about the airline by giving them 25,000 frequent-flyer points, as was reported by the AP.
The airline says the points are worth more than $300 in flights.
Southwest included the offer in a letter — another apology for the meltdown — from CEO Bob Jordan.
“I know that no amount of apologies can undo your experience,” Jordan wrote, as was reported by the AP. He added the airline is acting “with great urgency” to process refunds, return lost bags and handle requests for reimbursement of costs incurred by stranded travelers.
Dallas-based Southwest canceled more than 15,000 flights between Dec. 22 and Dec. 30, according to tracking service FlightAware. The AP also reported that the flight disruptions began with a winter storm that swept across the country. While other airlines recovered after a couple days, Southwest continued to struggle with crews and airplanes that were stranded far from where they were supposed to be.
Southwest said people booked on flights from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2 that were canceled or “significantly” delayed received the 25,000 points. It has not disclosed how many passengers were booked on those flights, as was reported by the AP.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Southwest has been sued by a passenger who said it failed to provide refunds to passengers left stranded when an operational meltdown led the carrier to cancel more than 15,000 flights late last month.
In a proposed class action filed on December 30th in New Orleans federal court, Eric Capdeville accused Southwest of breach of contract after a fierce winter storm that swept across the United States shortly before Christmas upended the carrier’s schedule, according to the Reuters report.
Though Southwest has promised to reimburse passengers for expenses, Capdeville said it offered only a credit to him and his daughter after scrapping their Dec. 27 flight to Portland, Oregon from New Orleans and being unable to book alternative travel, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Affected passengers “cannot use their airline tickets through no fault of their own and they are not getting the benefit of their bargain with defendant,” the complaint said.
Reuters reported that Capdeville, a Marrero, Louisiana resident, is seeking damages for passengers on Southwest flights canceled since Dec. 24, and who did not receive refunds or expense reimbursements.
In a statement on Tuesday, Southwest had no comment on the lawsuit, but said it had “several high priority efforts underway to do right by our customers, including processing refunds from canceled flights, and reimbursing customers for expenses incurred as a result of the irregular operations.”
On Monday, a report that appeared on WFSB.com (an ABC affiliate in Hartford) said that Connecticut’s senior senator urged Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation to help better protect airline travelers.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal held a news conference on Monday morning during which he referenced the several-day meltdown that left thousands of Southwest Airlines passengers stranded, WFSB.com reported.
As such, Blumenthal proposed an “airline passenger bill of rights.” The goal would be to ensure airlines provide passengers with fair compensation, refunds, and recourse in the event of airline-caused flight delays, and cancellations, according to the television news report.
It would also require airlines to pay at least $1,350 to passengers denied boarding because of an oversold flight plus, immediate refunds for lost or damaged baggage.
Blumenthal says the bill is necessary because of the airline industry’s continuing poor performance over the years, WFSB.com reported. He says it is time taxpayers are given what they are owed.
“It is an industry that is rife with monopolistic and predatory practices, and the reason they can do it is because they dominate and the balance of power has shifted in favor of the airlines with fewer of fewer of them controlling more of the routes putting passengers more at their mercy,” Blumenthal said, according to the WFSB.com report.
The Connecticut Senator added that, “The kind of disaster that we saw with Southwest simply dramatizes an ongoing failure by the airlines to respect basic passenger rights,” as was reported by CBSNews.com.
“The airlines are giving travelers some of the worst performance in recent history and they are charging more for it than ever,” he said, as was reported by the Hartford Courant on Monday.
The bill, if passed, would essentially ensure airlines give refunds and compensation for extra costs caused by delayed or canceled flights and lost luggage.
“Rental cars, hotel, meals, no questions asked, money back,” Blumenthal said.
The Hartford Courant also reported that the Southwest issue hit Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, where on one day last week all of the cancellations there were Southwest flights, including 11 departures and nine arrivals.
The bill has been referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Hartford Courant reported. On Monday, Blumenthal said he hoped to bring it before the Senate early in the next legislative session, which convened on Tuesday for a pro forma session .The Hartford Courant also reported that Blumenthal said he hopes lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will support the passengers’ rights he’s proposed.
“There’s nothing Republican or Democrat about a canceled flight and a stranded passenger sleeping overnight on the floor of an airport,” Blumenthal said Monday, as was reported by The Hartford Courant. “It happened in blue states, it happened in red states. Passengers didn’t care about party when they were sleeping on floors in airports or deprived of the opportunity to visit their loved ones.”
Blumenthal said he spoke with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at length on Thursday and that the secretary pledged to hold Southwest accountable for full refunds and compensation to passengers, according to the report in the Hartford Courant.
“I think the whole airline industry is due for a radical makeover,” said Blumenthal, as was reported in The Hartford Courant.
CBSNews.com also reported that Bill McGee, the senior fellow for aviation at the American Economic Liberties Project said that Americans have fewer rights dealing with an airline than with virtually any other company.
“They have their own internal algorithms based on how much you paid for the ticket, where you bought the ticket, when you bought the ticket, how you bought it, and because of all that, these contracts, they’re vague, they’re unfair, they’re one-sided,” he said, as was reported by CBSNews.com.
McGee says currently the four largest airlines control 84% of the market, an unprecedented level of consolidation for the industry.
“It not only effects fewer flights, fewer nonstop flights, less service, it also means … much higher fares,” McGee said, according to the CBSNews.com report.
