Southwest: Breakdown is now an act of God

[nigelb]

What will they think of next?

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article ... f5bad.html

I certainly hope this is not the start of a trend in the airline industry.

Nigel²

[FlyTexas]

Of course I can't respond in an official capacity (I'm just a happy employee ) but our C of C speaks of us not being responsible for "mechanical difficulties by entities other than Carrier". Basically it refers to issues such as problems with airport gates, obtaining fuel from an airport, air traffic control problems, etc. I feel pretty safe saying that we're responsible for mechanical difficulties with our own aircraft. I wouldn't fly any airline that felt they could blame God for mechanical difficulties. Talk about having carte blanche!

Brian

[nigelb]

I will grant you that "mechanical difficulties by entities other than Carrier" such as the items you list may not directly be Southwest's responsibility but they are hardly what you call a force majeure either! So why even mention mechanical difficulties in the list of acts of God? Looks like your lawyers have run amok.

Nice try though.

Nigel²

[jonesey2k]

Oh in that case I don't care if the wing of the plane that I'm flying on falls off because it's the will of god....

[FlyTexas]

Oh in that case I don't care if the wing of the plane that I'm flying on falls off because it's the will of god....

God wouldn't do that to you Mark...but to me? The closest thing to an "act of God list" in the C of C really just involves weather, earthquakes...that kind of stuff. The planes falling apart bit comes after the act of God stuff. Here's the Force Majeure Event portion of the C of C.

Force Majeure Event means any event outside of Carrier’s control, including, without limitation, acts of God, meteorological events, such as storms, rain, wind, fire, fog, flooding, earthquakes, haze, or volcanic eruption. It also includes, without limitation, government action, disturbances or potentially volatile international conditions, civil commotions, riots, embargoes, wars, or hostilities, whether actual, threatened, or reported, strikes, work stoppage, slowdown, lockout or any other labor related dispute involving or affecting Carrier’s service, mechanical difficulties by entities other than Carrier, Air Traffic Control, the inability to obtain fuel, airport gates, labor, or landing facilities for the flight in question or any fact not reasonably foreseen, anticipated or predicted by Carrier.

And if you really want to indulge in some sleep-inducing reading here's the C of C in it's entirety.
http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/coc.pdf

Brian