A $140 million fine has been handed down to Southwest Airlines for disruptions to its flights around the 2022 holiday season.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Wednesday that the airline was being fined the hefty sum for letting its customers believe that they had booked flights during the holiday season when, in fact, those flights were not running.
The issue arose in 2018, when potential customers were searching Southwest’s online booking system and discovering that no flights were available around the dates of the 2022 holiday season. In the fine, the CFPB adds that many customers expressed concerns that the airline was either deliberately overbooking flights or that they were intentionally manipulating their online booking system to make it appear as though there were no flights available.
However, the CFPB found that, although there were no flights available around the 2022 holidays, this was due to an internal error. The agency says that it found that Southwest had not released enough capacity on its online booking system to accommodate the expected seasonal increase in demand for flights.
The CFPB also says that Southwest failed to take “acceptable corrective actions” when they discovered that their online booking system was not meeting customer needs over the holidays. This failure to act has resulted in the massive $140 million fine being handed down to the airline.
Southwest has not issued a formal statement in response to the fine, but they have said that they are “committed to providing our customers with the highest levels of service.” The airline also says that they are “working to revise our operating procedures to ensure a better customer experience in the future.”
The CFPB’s fine is the latest in a series of issues Southwest has had over the past few years. Last year, the airline was hit with a $2.8 million fine for inadequate training and scheduling of pilots, and they have also been criticized for their failure to respond to customer complaints.
Overall, this hefty fine serves as a reminder of the importance of taking customer needs seriously and responding in a timely and appropriate manner. The airline is now paying the financial price for its failure to act in this situation.