Southwest Airlines has been sued by a passenger and his daughter who allege the airline failed to effectively provide refunds to passengers left stranded following an operational shutdown that led the carrier to cancel more than 15,000 flights late last month.
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In the proposed class action filed on Dec. 30 in a New Orleans federal court, Eric Capdeville accused Southwest of breaching its contract with travelers after a fierce winter storm that swept across the United States shortly before Christmas upended the carrier’s schedule.
Capdeville claims that although Southwest promised to reimburse passengers for travel-related expenses, he and his daughter were only offered a credit after their Dec. 27 fight to Portland from New Orleans was nixed.
Capdeville, a Louisiana resident, is seeking damages for passengers on Southwest flights canceled starting Christmas Eve, and who did not receive refunds or expense reimbursements from the carrier.
In a statement Tuesday, Southwest made no comment on the lawsuit, but did note that, “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.”
Dallas-based Southwest blamed the calamity on a mixture of staffing shortages and the failure of several outdated fight scheduling softwares.
Southwest has stated it would reimburse affected travelers for various reasonable expenses such as last-minute lodging, rental car and dining costs, but it might take several weeks to distribute all of the funds.
Following the meltdown, the carrier restored most of its normal operations on Dec. 30, days after other airlines had recovered from the storm’s impacts.
On Dec. 29, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg penned a letter to Southwest Chief Executive Bob Jordan, calling the disruptions “unacceptable” and said federal law requires refunds when carriers cancel flights unless passengers accept rebooking.
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