Southwest has been fined again for advertising cheap fares on seats that did not exist. The airline advertised on eight Atlanta stations in which the narrator told viewers, “Discover amazing low sale fares” of $59 “to places like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.” The problem is that, when people went to book the fares, they were told no seats were available.
The airlines insisted that it was simply an oversight and that those cities were not supposed to be part of the offer. However, the $100,000 fine was doubled by the U.S. Department of Transportation because the airlines was suspended after a similar offense last year. The question is how such a small fine truly deters such violations. At $100,000 a pop, an airline could do this intentionally, entice customers in a bait-and-switch, and just pay the fine as a cost of doing business.
Now, to my most recent encounter with the shakedown that customers face every time that they fly. I previously complained in a New York Times article that flying today is like being a guest of the Ferengi as airlines hit customers with fees for everything from bags to seats is a bare minimum of legroom. That image came to mind recently when one of my sons and I were flying on United and ordered the over-priced sandwiches on the flight. It seemed to be at least a reasonable size . . . until we bought them:
It really summed up the approach of airlines today.
Airlines regularly have mistake fairs, and often they honor them. As stated here in this case, Southwest honored this $59 fare to anyone contacting the airline. A few months ago, I flew to Milan, Italy for something like $149 round trip. A few weeks ago, I picked up a deal that is too complicated to explain here in this forum, but I am able to fly around the world in November for less than $200. I will spend time in Prague, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Hong Kong before returning back to Tampa. Basically, I am heading east and I just keep on going around the globe until I come back to my starting point. Rather than whine about bad management or bad corporations, I just leverage what they are doing to my benefit. I know some people here will whine about how evil that is of me to take advantage of the airlines, but if they agree to give me passage for what I give them in return, I see nothing wrong with it. I think they know they lose money on me, but they willingly do it because it makes them money from how other people lamely work their incentives.
“I previously complained in a New York Times article that flying today is like being a guest of the Ferengi as airlines hit customers with fees for everything from bags to seats is a bare minimum of legroom.”
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Well, you totally omitted the upgrade to snake oil drinks you get with the full fare seat. As for legroom, you can hardly blame the airlines. After all, the seats were designed in the late 40s for a famous aviator –Albert II:
http://www.universetoday.com/38704/first-monkey-in-space/
Kraaken, Are you a Packer fan?
As a former employee of U.S. Airways and knowing what I knew about the fare structure, even though I could fly non-rev, I always (with one exception) flew SW. Paul, I was going to book a flight on Allegiant for a trip to Green Bay until I discovered that when you add everything together, the Allegiant ticket would have been more expensive that flying Delta.
kraaken – you have to book Allegiant early. The prices go up every couple of days, or by tickets sold at a particular price. And then you have to be careful to say no to all the extras. Plus, they are right next door to me and have great parking. 🙂
I agreed on the ridiculous overcharges at hotels for internet. As far as low airline fares go, bring a sandwich with you if it’s that big a deal.
Yo, Turley: Try Travelocity. I get better prices than going thru the airline directly. When you get hosed on an airline then cut a silent fart when you walk by the pilot if he is on the doorway when you get off.
Actually, I fly Southwest when possible, but my summer vacation will be on Allegiant, a no-frills, pay for ALL extras (including carry-ons) carrier. I check no to everything, but I had to take a bag so I am paying extra for that.
yeah, we were looking for them, LMA
Who was the pilot and airline where the pilot made a miraculous landing on the Hudson (is that the right body of water) without a single loss of life. Everyone just hung out on the wing to be rescued by boat.
That’s the guy I want flying my plane!
Hahaha! I love the sandwich photos!
Do you think we will be charged in the future for seat belts, takeoffs, and landings?
Another case of “Maximizing Shareholder Value” causing a minimizing of public respect?
Southwest is a good airline.
randyjet, If only all CEO’s didn’t have the blue collar, hard work, honest ethic of Herbie! Unfortunately, he is very rare.
Gordon Bethune is another one who came up through the ranks. He was a drop-out who joined the Navy and became an aircraft mechanic. He knew how it is on the bottom and how things and people work. Too bad we don’t use the Japanese system in which the college grad gets to push a broom to start and works their way up.
Now we know where press secretaries go to work when they leave government.
I just want to get from point A to point B without any drama…And extra costs!
Wow. What vitriol aimed at businesses that employ hundreds of thousands (e.g., American employs around 90,000 according to their website) of people, many (or, I would venture, most) are unionized; that purchases heavy machinery made in manufacturing plants in the US, Canada, and Europe; that responds to their customers DEMANDS for lowest price possible. Mr Turley, if you want better service, pay for it. And if you truly think that an airline says “you know, if we lie with false advertising and sell 100,000 more seats, then we can make a profit of 5% on that $6 million, which is $300,000 BUT if we’re caught and pay the penalty of $100,000, well, that still gets us a 3.7% profit, so … LET’S LIE!!!” Y’all need to stick to the law because you clearly don’t know much about business. But wait! Lawyers are businessmen, too. Liars!!
Last year I took a United flight from Houston to New York, paid for a window seat to which there was no window! I was a bit shocked and took a picture to ask how I could get a window seat with no window. I was told that I had the extra leg room which is what they had figured I’d purchased the seat for. Horrible, as from Houston, main airline out of here…
The airline industry is plagued with poor executives (remember luminaries like Frank Lorenzo?).
I don’t know what it is about the airline culture that allows those people to rise to the top, but in earlier years the industry had stars like Herb Kelleher (Southwest) and Juan Tripp (Pan Am).
The bean counters figured out that passengers are a captive market and their opinion doesn’t matter. As long as we want cheap flights and want to fly, this trend will continue.
The airlines need to do what Herbie did when he was still chairman of the board, but semi-retired. His successor decided that Herb was all wrong when he took over as CEO and when the contract negotiations were opened with the flight attendants, they were going so badly they took a strike vote. Herb heard about that, and rather than getting tough with the F/As, he simply fired the new CEO. The F/As had a new contract ratified within the week.
I had the pleasure of telling some Southwest F/As about the firing of their CEO when I was at CMH, and they all said, OH HERBIE! What will we do when he is gone. When you have the front line employees loving you and your company, that company will tend to do very well. This is NOT rocket science folks.
A corporation lied? Wow what a shock. Corporations no longer see their function as making a product or providing a service in order to make money. Their goal is to make money if they actually provide the service they are advertising that is incidental or accidental.
I used to work for United Airlines as a mechanic, and I was proud to work there since it was a great airline to fly and work for. It is amazing how much management can do to destroy an airline and I would not have believed it was possible to do such a bad job and still be employed or in business.