On January 17th, the Klein Law Firm announced that it had filed a class action complaint against Southwest Airlines. The firm says it is suing the airline on behalf of its shareholders, claiming that Southwest violated federal security laws. The lawsuit comes following a holiday of madness for the airline, during which it suffered thousands of flight cancelations and lost millions of dollars.

Holiday madness

In mid-December, winter storms began crossing the US, bringing extreme winter weather. In the days leading up to Christmas, airlines were forced to cancel thousands of flights as a result of the wintry weather. While this disrupted travel at almost all US airlines, after Christmas, the weather calmed, and flights could resume as scheduled. While it took several days to mop up the mess, most airlines were able to reroute displaced passengers and help them reach their final destination.

The phrase most airlines does not mean all airlines. While some airline operations were disrupted for a longer period than others, none were disrupted quite as extensively as those of Southwest Airlines. Under the strain of thousands of cancelations, Southwest's antiquated scheduling systems crumbled.

The failure of these systems led to additional cancelations as staff and crewmembers were effectively left unable to adjust schedules or access current rosters. Eventually, the airline decided to shut down the entire scheduling system and reboot it to rebuild its schedule. These failures have led to this most recent lawsuit as Klein Law Firm and many of the shareholders it represents believe that the operational disruptions were avoidable and that the prolonged madness was the result of managerial negligence.

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Serious accusations

In the lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, Klein Law Firm accuses the airline of violating federal regulations and jeopardizing its operational stability. The firm claims that this also threatened the security of shareholders' investments in the company. The firm has accused the airline of ignoring severe issues with the technology it uses for scheduling flights and crew.

The firm claims that management is responsible for the failure of this technology by not investing in replacements or upgrades sooner. Southwest operates on a point-to-point connection schedule with short turn times between flights. The firm says that the airline was dishonest in previous reports about operational security as it continuously failed to mention how this scheduling system is prone to fail in situations of severe disruption.

Lastly, the firm argues that Southwest's defensive statements made during and after the recent travel crisis were misleading and, at times, materially false. The lawsuit comes as the airline is currently being investigated by the Department of Transportation (DOT) regarding the unusually high number of flight disruptions. The firm believes this investigation will yield results supporting its claim. Shareholders have been encouraged by Klein Law Firm to petition the court for lead plaintiff status as a way to recover lost investments. It also shared that this must be done no later than March 13th.

What do you think of this lawsuit? Let us know in the comments below.

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  Southwest Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  WN/SWA

  Airline Type:

  Low-Cost Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Dallas Love Field, Denver International Airport, Harry Reid International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Houston Hobby Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Midway International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1967

  CEO:

  Robert Jordan

  Country:

  United States