![]() ![]() The DOJ said it's requiring the airline to reimburse travelers for canceled flights as well as hotels, meals and alternate transportation, and up to $3,800 per passenger for lost or damaged bags, even for a delay in the delivery of a passenger’s baggage. The Department of Justice (DOJ) says it has received thousands of consumer complaints about Southwest. United told us it works quickly to return bags when flights are canceled.Īmerican’s policy is when a flight is canceled, checked bags are returned to the departure airport’s luggage claim. NBC 5 Investigates has learned that's not how some other major airlines operate.ĭelta said when a flight is canceled, any checked bags are returned to baggage claim. ![]() The aircraft is expected to be somewhere else and those bags are expected to be in that location too, as bags are tagged to a customer’s final destination once they are checked at the ticket counter." The plane still has to move eventually, even if a specific customer or customers are not on it. NBC 5 Investigates asked Southwest about flying checked bags without passengers and why it didn’t make more sense to remove the luggage and return it to customers at baggage claim.Ī Southwest spokesperson told us that TSA scans the checked bags but also says, "it’s very cumbersome to remove checked baggage from the aircraft once it is loaded. The TSA says that PPBM is not required on domestic flights. That rule started after the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, when a terrorist hid a bomb inside a checked bag but never boarded the plane. One rule is PPBM, or positive passenger bag matching, requiring international flights to remove a checked bag if its passenger doesn't board. Southwest Airlines is facing scrutiny from federal officials after significant flight disruptions during the holiday travel season, NBC 5's Patrick Fazio reports. Domestic and international flights follow different rules. "I had put tracking tiles in our luggage before we left, and I could see where they were the whole time, and they sat in Nashville for about a week," Andrea Grasenick said.Īirline responsibility for checked luggage has been guided by security concerns. Many passengers were left searching for their luggage, wondering why Southwest didn't take their bags off the canceled flights and return them to customers. Those extreme circumstances not only canceled more than 16,000 flights. 27 video statement saying, "We need to double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what’s happening right now." Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan addressed the travel disruptions in a Dec. Launched in 1971, Southwest Airlines touted itself as one of the most loved, most efficient and profitable airlines. But a holiday storm and outdated computer software brought the airline to a screening halt. Southwest to Give Over $300 in Points to Customers Impacted by Cancellation Chaos ![]() "That's what they said, the luggage is going to be sent wherever the destination is and then brought back here, which is absolutely insane," said Mark Murman, a Southwest passenger who never left Chicago. Apparently, they went wherever the destination that plane went," said one passenger whose flight was canceled at Midway Airport. They were not the only Southwest passengers who lost their checked bags. "We were told that they would have to go through Ft. "Southwest was telling us that we had to wait for our bags to go to our final destination before we would be able to claim them," Andrea Grasenick said. So they booked a flight home on United Airlines without their checked bags. They say they waited in customer service lines for a total of eight to 10 hours without getting on board another flight and missed their cruise. The couple got stuck in Nashville for two days when Southwest canceled their connecting flight. NBC 5 Investigates found that while the airline is unique for its "bags free policy," it is also different in how it handles checked passenger bags. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here. Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. ![]()
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