One Clear Dot

The last flight I took was on Southwest. I chose the airline, because it flew into Dulles, the prices were great, and they have the most amazing policy on making changes to your itinerary that means you rarely, if ever, end up paying a change fee. I was happy with their customer service and since I flew with a young child, I got to board early and always got great seats.

I’m sitting here today, though, with a sense of dread in my heart. It turns out that federal inspectors are saying that Southwest Airlines flew thousands of passengers on at least 117 planes that were “unsafe”. And, they did this as recently as March 2007.

These planes were in violation of mandatory safety checks, sometimes flying up to two-and-a-half years after government inspection deadlines had passed. In reality, these planes should have been grounded until the inspections could be completed.

Although Southwest Airlines has never had a catastrophic crash, there is still the matter of compliance to take into consideration. The mandatory inspections are designed to promoter safety and head off any potential disasters or malfunctions. Compliance is not only the law, it is good business.

Southwest, don’t just give us good prices – do everything you can to keep us safe as well!

Posted on March 6th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Business, Travel