Southwest Fined $200,000 for Passenger Bumping

[DieselDragRacer]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...d-200-000-for-passenger-bumping-update1-.html

 

[Scope out RJ's]

Bring your fine, It's on!

Yet another fine for southwest airlines.

http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2010/04/26/daily22.html?ana=yfcpc

Southwest Airlines fined $200,000

Southwest Airlines Co. was hit with a $200,000 fine Tuesday for violating federal rules concerning bumped passengers on oversold flights.
The U.S. Department of Transportation requires airlines to seek volunteers willing to give up their seats for compensation when a flight is oversold. If there aren’t enough volunteers and the carrier must bump passengers involuntarily, the carrier must give those passengers a written statement describing their rights and the process for selecting who gets bumped from an oversold flight.
In most cases, involuntarily bumped passengers are entitled to cash compensation of up to $800, according to a DOT statement.
The DOT Aviation Enforcement Office’s investigation into Southwest’s practices included a review of consumer complaints sent to the carrier and a site inspection at the airline’s headquarters in 2009. The investigation revealed numerous instances in which Southwest denied boarding to passengers, but did not comply with provisions of the bumping rule, according to a DOT statement.
The DOT consent order states that Southwest “is proud of its exemplary record of regulatory compliance and customer satisfaction. Further, while Southwest regrets any violations of the Department’s oversales rules, Southwest notes that on the whole it has maintained an extremely high compliance rate with respect to Part 250, especially considering that Southwest carries over 100 million passengers per year and the number of alleged violations cited by the DOT is very small in comparison.”
The carrier said it committed to improving its compliance record through additional training of employees and new tech tools relating to oversales, which should help reduce manual errors Southwest also said it is developing measures beyond the DOT rules, including notices and links to additional information that will be integrated into the booking process on its Web site.



Read more: Southwest Airlines fined $200,000 - Dallas Business Journal:

 

[FlyinGuy]

Just think.....if we had not paid for our type, SWA probably would have to file for BK.

 

[MILPILOT17]

I love PFT! I wish more airlines did it so I could PFT, apply, get hired and then turn the job down and stay at SWA. Did I mention that I LOVE PFT!

 

[Moon-dog]

Scopes should be happy. Some of those bumped pax might have ended up on Delta which might help turn a profit, at some point (but I doubt it).

 

[MILPILOT17]

Scopes should be happy. Some of those bumped pax might have ended up on Delta which might help turn a profit, at some point (but I doubt it).

They might have even been put on an RJ that Scopes was the FO on. So in the end he flew a SWA passenger on an RJ

 

[Moon-dog]

That's funny!!

 

[Whataburger]

I guess the good part about this is that they were bumped because the planes were fuller than expected.

 

[redflyer65]

Unbelievably full...I guess it really is on. Can't wait to see the profit sharing for 2010.

 

[RedBelly]

The same people who complain about being bumped would be the first in line to complain about non-refundable fares.

 

[Scope out RJ's]

You would think that with all the money southwest collects from its employees from them buying their jobs that they could at least payoff the right regulators!

 

[SFR]

Were they bumping uglies?

 

[B727Driver]

Scope,
All the money it collects from blah, blah (the usual drivel)....Ok, let's look at your never ending rant. According to APC, SWA has around 6000 pilots. The cost of a type rating is what? Retail $8000, actual cost around $4000 or lower. Do you really think $24,000,000 is going to make or break SWA? I don't think so. They hand more in out in profitsharing and 401k match. They probably budget more for deck parties and flat screens for ATC. Maybe SWA instituted the type rating requirement to keep out losers like YOU!
Now, get back to work and SCOPE OUT THOSE PESKY RJ's! Again, keep up posted on any progress you make on this issue. We can't wait to hear how you are going to kick the whole camel out of the tent.

 

[waka]

I love PFT! I wish more airlines did it so I could PFT, apply, get hired and then turn the job down and stay at SWA. Did I mention that I LOVE PFT!

Southwest's requirement that one must have a type rating is not PFT. PFT is when you actually pay the airline for training. PFT = Pay For Training. It's not that hard.

You would think that with all the money southwest collects from its employees from them buying their jobs that they could at least payoff the right regulators!

Southwest does not collect any money and there is no buying of jobs.

 

[johnsonrod]

Southwest's requirement that one must have a type rating is not PFT. PFT is when you actually pay the airline for training. PFT = Pay For Training. It's not that hard.



Southwest does not collect any money and there is no buying of jobs.

SWA doesn't collect any money, but they also don't spend as much. Great slip of the hand trick there waka.

 

[FlyinGuy]

Waka,
Quit trying to rationalize with him. It is much more fun just to join in. Just try it.....kinda like this.....


SWA is not my first PFT rodeo. I actually bought my own PPL so that I could get a job flying in the military. Guess what it worked. So I figured I would continue with the trend when I got out. So when I started looking I just applied to the biggest and most abusive PFT outfit around.....SWA. Bingo it worked again.

 

[johnsonrod]

Waka,
Quit trying to rationalize with him. It is much more fun just to join in. Just try it.....kinda like this.....


SWA is not my first PFT rodeo. I actually bought my own PPL so that I could get a job flying in the military. Guess what it worked. So I figured I would continue with the trend when I got out. So when I started looking I just applied to the biggest and most abusive PFT outfit around.....SWA. Bingo it worked again.

Do you pay for your kids to be on certain sports teams? Did you pay for your wife initially?(not just dates, but a money transaction) What else is ok to pay for? Keep justifying it if it makes you feel better.

 

[Scope out RJ's]

Do you pay for your kids to be on certain sports teams? Did you pay for your wife initially?(not just dates, but a money transaction) What else is ok to pay for? Keep justifying it if it makes you feel better.

Don't try to rationalize with the pft crowd. Just join in.
The only reason the got the job was because of their checkbook. They wouldn't have gotten on otherwise!

 

[FlyinGuy]

Dude, you should see the size of my checkbook now!!!! What a bargain.

 

[Smarta$$]

They should look at Delta next. I am fed up with oversold flights. The old, well not every passenger shows up every time, is BULL$HIT. Often they do, and then some.