Southwest Airlines hit with huge fine for Christmas IT fiasco
The US Department of Transportation (DoT) has revealed details of an eye-watering $140 million fine that Southwest Airlines is facing following its catastrophic IT outage over Christmas 2022.
The point say that the civil penalty, which is 30 times larger than any other previous DOT fine for consumer protection violations, is the result of βnumerous violations of consumer protection laws.β
Two million passengers and 16,900 flights were canceled over the Christmas and New Year period last year after Southwest Airlines faced the disruption.
Disruption at Southwest Airlines
The problems arose when the Texas-headquartered airline was forced to reschedule flights in the wake of the December 21 storm, which lasted until December 26. On December 27, it was announced that the company's operational systems were struggling to keep up with the large number of flights. of rescheduled flights, causing headaches for some passengers until early January 2023.
Along with more than $600 million in refunds and reimbursements to passengers who experienced disruptions during the meltdown, Southwest Airlines will have paid more than $750 million for this incident.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg commented: βToday's action sets a new precedent and sends a clear message: when airlines fail their passengers, we will use the full extent of our authority to hold them accountable. β
The DOT said the fine, imposed nearly 12 months after the chaos began, is based on its review of “tens of thousands of pages of documents” and on “several multi-day, in-person audits” and visits to Southwest's headquarters in Dallas .
The Department of Transportation was particularly concerned about Southwest Airlines' failure to provide adequate customer service, timely flight status notifications and refunds in a timely and accurate manner.
Going forward, the DOT has directed Southwest to set aside $90 million in vouchers for similar events in the future. Ny Breaking reached out to Southwest Airlines for comment on the latest fine, but we did not immediately receive a response.