Southwest Airlines says it has launched a flight delay compensation program as part of a $140 million settlement with the Department of Transportation over the airline’s meltdown during the busy December 2022 holiday travel season. did.
In December 2023, Southwest Airlines will offer $90 million worth of travel vouchers worth $75 or more to passengers whose final destination is delayed by at least three hours due to airline issues or cancellations, and will complete the program by Tuesday. We agreed to start the project in 3 years.
The airline announced Monday that it quietly launched the program on April 16 and has already received requests from thousands of customers for vouchers.
Airlines agreed to the compensation program after the holiday meltdown canceled 16,900 flights and left 2 million passengers stranded. The settlement included a $35 million cash penalty.
December 2022’s massive winter storm and subsequent disruption caused people to miss funerals and much-anticipated holiday gatherings, passengers whose flights were canceled and were forced to drive more than 17 hours across the continent. It has sparked horror stories of travel, with some cancer patients unable to get to the hospital. process.
The delay compensation program is part of the Biden administration’s aggressive efforts to get tougher on airlines with new passenger compensation requirements. Southwest said vouchers will be granted “on request.”
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in December that $30 million a year in vouchers was a “reasonable number” to commit to considering operating performance.
Asked if Southwest Airlines would end the program after three years, Jordan said consumer programs are “very unlikely to change or go away.”
Rival U.S. airlines have not introduced similar programs and have not yet faced such obligations.
President Biden said last May that the Department of Transportation would propose new rules by the end of the year that would require airlines to compensate passengers with cash in the event of significant, controllable flight delays or cancellations. The DOT has not made its proposal public, and Congress has refused to mandate compensation for delays in pending aviation reform legislation.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week that Southwest Airlines is “really leading the market under its late compensation obligations, and it will be very interesting to see how other airlines respond, not as a punishment, but as competition.” Stated.
The DOT asked airlines in 2022 if they would pay at least $100 for delays of three hours or more, but no airlines agreed.
Most airlines, including Southwest Airlines, made voluntary commitments in August 2022 to provide hotels, meals and ground transportation for airline delays and cancellations, but the provision of cash compensation as required by the European Union I resisted.
