Southwest Airlines Sued Drink Coupons Leads to $29 Million Settlement

Southwest Airlines sued drink coupons led to a settlement that will see all airline passengers who bought drinks before August 1, 2010 get their values worth of drinks.

The Southwest airlines which was sued by its passengers who had bought drinks from the Airline before August the 1^st. the Southwest Airlines sued drink coupons case was brought before the American court over what the passengers term as a reneging on a representation that the airline had made.

The Airline had a class action law suit against itself launched by a passenger for himself and for all other airline passengers who had their drink coupons invalidated due to an expiry that they were not informed of. The expiry of the drink coupons took effect on August the 1^st 2010. However, the policy that was implemented on that very date went to affect Airline passengers who had bought their coupons before the expiry date was made known. That way, millions of coupons were invalidated, even though the passengers had known at the time of purchase that the coupons had no expiry date.

The Southwest Airlines sued drink coupons case led to a prolonged battle between the airline and its passengers who sought the redeeming of their coupons. Southwest airlines in a statement, said that they resuted in the expiration policy after their coupons were photocopied and used illegally by many passengers. In its statement, "For years, Southwest Airlines has accepted all types of drink coupons on our planes - regardless of their expiration dates. Rapid Rewards coupons. Business Select coupons. Old Company Club coupons. Coupons from the 80s, coupons from the 90s. And we've done so for all the right reasons." However, due to increased operational costs and competition, the airline was forced to operate smarter to survive, this meant making tough policies.

The settlement will see Southwest Airlines redeem 5.8 million vouchers, each worth $5 and the consequent, bringing the figure to about $29 million. Also, the airline will have to raise $7 million, bringing an end to the Southwest Airlines sued drink coupons case.