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Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: Southwest Airlines Co.
Current Parent Company: Southwest Airlines
Parent at the Time of the Penalty Announcement:  subscribe to see this data field
Penalty: $140,000,000
Year: 2023
Date: December 18, 2023
Offense Group: consumer-protection-related offenses
Primary Offense: aviation consumer protection violation
Violation Description: The Transportation Department found that Southwest violated consumer protection laws during and after the operational failures that stranded over two million passengers over the 2022 Christmas holiday and into the New Year. While Southwest paid consumers experiencing flight disruptions over $600 million in refunds and reimbursements, the Department found that Southwest also violated the law on numerous occasions. Specifically, the Department determined that Southwest failed to provide prompt or proper refunds to some of its passengers for flights the carrier cancelled or significantly changed in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR Part 259. The Department also determined that Southwest failed to provide prompt flight status notifications for flight disruptions, which harmed numerous consumers in violation of 14 CFR § 259.8 and 49 U.S.C. § 41712. Additionally, the Department determined that Southwest failed to provide adequate customer service assistance to consumers during the widespread flight irregularities in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712.
Level of Government: federal
Action Type: agency action
Agency: Transportation Department Aviation Consumer Protection Division
Civil or Criminal Case: civil
HQ Country of Current Parent: USA
HQ State of Current Parent: Texas
Ownership Structure of Current Parent: publicly traded
Major Industry of Current Parent: airlines
Specific Industry of Current Parent: airlines
Source of Data: (click here)
Source Notes: If an online information source is not working, check the Violation Tracker Data Sources page for an updated link.
Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.