The U.S. Department of Transportation will impose a fine of approximately 20 billion yen on Southwest Airlines, which caused 16,900 flights to be canceled during the Christmas season.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has found that Southwest Airlines failed to properly clean up
DOT Penalizes Southwest Airlines $140 Million for 2022 Holiday Meltdown | US Department of Transportation
https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/dot-penalizes-southwest-airlines-140-million-2022-holiday-meltdown
Southwest Airlines Newsroom
https://swamedia.com/releases/release-cdf576abd19398407f58297b73a66063-southwest-airlines-reaches-settlement-with-department-of-transportation-dot
US fines Southwest Airlines $140M for 2022 IT meltdown • The Register
https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/18/us_fines_southwest_airlines_140m/
During the 2022 Christmas season, Southwest Airlines was forced to change its flight schedule due to a severe storm. In addition, 16,900 flights were ultimately canceled as a result of the outdated scheduling software failing.
Canceled flights have left hundreds of thousands of customers stranded at airports, hotels and other locations far from home. Customers scrambled to book alternative flights and find accommodations, but the company's customer service was overcrowded, with calls sometimes being busy, waiting hours to get through to a representative, or even hanging up. It seems that there were many.
More than $600 million (approximately 86 billion yen) in refunds and repayments have already been made to customers due to enforcement measures taken by the Ministry of Transport, and a compensation system has also been established to secure vouchers worth an additional $90 million (approximately 1.3 billion yen). I am. As a result of these measures, Southwest Airlines is spending a total of more than $750 million (approximately 110 billion yen) to resolve this commotion.
In addition to the above measures, the Department of Transportation has announced new fines of $140 million. This action was taken on the basis that the damage caused to customers constituted multiple violations of consumer protection laws, and the fine amount is the highest in the history of the Ministry of Transport. Specific violations include not being notified of flight delays by email and not providing prompt and appropriate refunds. Most of the fines collected will be used to compensate passengers.
'Today's action sets a new precedent,' said Transportation Secretary Pete Battigieg. 'When airlines fail our passengers, we will use every power in our power to hold them accountable.' He issued a warning to airlines to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.
In the wake of the Southwest Airlines incident, President Joe Biden took issue with the fact that few airlines offer compensation beyond the price of the ticket, and in May 2023, President Joe Biden announced that airlines would reimburse airlines for meals, hotels, taxis, etc. We have pledged to propose new rules that would make compensation mandatory rather than optional.
In response to this announcement, Southwest Airlines issued a statement saying, ``We apologize for any inconvenience caused. We have worked hard over the past year to recover and work together internally. We are grateful that we were able to respond quickly, learn from this incident, and now focus on the future.'
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