Southwest Airlines Hit with Early Bird Check-In Class Action Lawsuit

Southwest Airlines Co. has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging its seating policy tricks customers into paying for phony priority boarding upgrades.

According to the Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit, plaintiff Robert Zammetti purchased the airline’s promotional “Wanna Get Away” tickets in August 2013 for roundtrip travel between San Diego, Calif. and Detroit, Mich. He selected and purchased the “Early Bird Check-in” add-on, which cost $25 for a roundtrip flight.

Zammetti alleges in the Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit that numerous people received preferable boarding positions when checking in to the flights, even though they had not purchased the Early Bird add-on to receive priority boarding. He claims Southwest’s Early Bird Check-In promotion is deceptive and misleading.

Similarly, plaintiff Michael Lowry alleges he was “deceptively enticed” into purchasing Early Bird priority boarding after he received a “B” boarding group assignment on one segment of round trip travel between Los Angeles, Calif. and Indianapolis, Ind. At the time of boarding, he also identified numerous travelers who received a higher boarding position even though they had not paid for Early Bird Check-In priority.

According to the Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit, the airline assigns boarding positions based on the time a passenger checks in for a flight. “The earlier a customer checks in, the higher the boarding position that customer receives—subject to defendant’s published (misleading) and unpublished (deceptive) boarding policies and procedures,” the class action lawsuit alleges.

Southwest Airlines allegedly offers the “Early Bird Check-In” option to guarantee automatic check-in and to assign a priority boarding position before general check-in begins 24 hours prior to departure. The Early Bird add-on costs $12.50 each way, or $25 for a round-trip flight, according to the Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit.

“Defendant Southwest entices customers who have purchased ‘Wanna Get Away’ or ‘Anytime’ fares to purchase the ‘Early Bird Check-in’ add-on to receive ‘priority’ boarding over other customers,” the Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit alleges. “However, … ‘Anytime’ fares receive priority boarding over ‘Wanna Get Away’ fares outright, thus those with ‘Anytime’ fares who purchase the ‘Early Bird Check-in’ add-on only receive priority boarding over the ‘Anytime’ fares, creating a fiction of ‘priority boarding.”

The Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit accuses the airline of reaping a “windfall” of revenue based on deceptive, misleading and fraudulent business practices. The plaintiffs allege that customers would not purchase the “illusory” Early Bird priority boarding add-on if they were properly informed about Southwest’s boarding policies.

Zammetti and Lowry filed the Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and other Southwest customers in California who have purchased Southwest Airlines tickets and/or Early Bird priority boarding add-ons within the last four years. They are bringing claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law, fraudulent concealment and breach of contract.

The plaintiffs are represented by Kristopher P. Badame of Badame & Associates.

The Southwest Airlines Early Bird Check-In Class Action Lawsuit is Robert J. Zammetti, et al. v. Southwest Airlines Co., et al., Case No. 8:14-cv-01792, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.