모두
← Back to Squawk list
Southwest Airlines suddenly grounds 34 planes in its fleet
Southwest Airlines had to abruptly ground 34 Boeing 737-700 aircraft on Thanksgiving Eve when the low-fare behemoth discovered that the maintenance paperwork related to the grounded planes was not in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety directives. Per an FAA mandate, Southwest was required to do immediate detailed visual inspections of the 34 grounded aircraft. A Southwest spokesperson said the carrier voluntarily followed the FAA mandate. (www.bizjournals.com) 기타...
Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
While I applaud Southwest for quickly realizing the issue and taking action, I'm still wondering how you "voluntarily" follow a MANDATE???
Allegiant made the voluntary part.
The article indicated the grounded a/c were bought used and required inspections for damages occurring before purchase. Did the repair paperwork not come with the the bird? Was there some question on the repairs themselves?
Still the best domestic airline in USA. Best in customer service, fair to all!!! I only had good experience with Southwest even in case of disruption due to weather, getting late to the airport etc.. Not so with other airlines, United bumped me even though I was at check in counter 1.25 hours before the flight because the flight was overbooked! The reason?: We cant check in your baggage because it is already less than one hour before the flight, but they wasted 20 minutes by disappearing in the back room! No compensation given- I got cheated and never flew again with United ever!!
At least they grounded the planes and got the inspections taken care of quickly. Thats better than some of the other airlines would have done at that time.
Well, keep in mind that the largest fine ever levied by the FAA in its history, was against Southwest in the last 2 years relating to its shoddy maintenance paperwork. So unfortunately they have a history in this aspect, and it's hardly because they're safety minded -- more because they know they're already under a suspect eye from the FAA.
Could be worse... you could be Allegiant..
About the only ones grounding Allegiant aircraft are pilots declaring an emergency.
