Southwest Hit With Class Action Over Rewards Points

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Southwest Airlines was hit with a class action lawsuit in a Texas federal court, alleging that the company does not credit customers who own the Southwest Rewards Credit Card the right amount of points in the calendar year they were accrued, which causes customers to lose out on companion pass benefits.

Plaintiff Cory Couch of Arizona claims in his Southwest class action lawsuit that he filed on Feb. 6 that in June 2014 he became a Southwest Rapid Rewards member and a Rapid Rewards credit card holder.

Throughout 2014, Couch used his Southwest credit card to make several purchases. In addition, he also flew Southwest at various times during 2014, the Southwest rewards points class action lawsuit alleges.

As a result of his purchases and flights, Couch earned over 100,000 points by December 2014.

“Couch called Southwest to inquire as to when points made on purchases would be credited for the purposes of earning a Companion Pass,” he explained in his Southwest class action lawsuit.

“Consistent with the Southwest website disclosures, customer service informed Couch that points earned on purchases made in December after his billing cycle that ended Dec. 8, 2014 would be counted during the 2014 calendar year,” the class action lawsuit adds.

After Dec. 8, Couch made several purchases on his Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card because he believed that the purchases would be added as points to his 2014 points, meaning more points toward earning Companion Passes.

He went on to earn 110,000 points before the end of December, which is the amount needed to reach Companion Pass Status, which means that a Southwest customer is entitled to bring anyone with them on any of their Southwest flights booked through Southwest Airlines for one year, according to the Southwest rewards points class action lawsuit.

However, “Southwest did not credit the points earned on the purchases he made after Dec. 8, 2014” for the same calendar year.

According to the Southwest class action lawsuit, “the program’s terms state repeatedly that points for Companion Passes will be earned on credit purchases made during the calendar year, without disclosing that points earned on purchases after the close of the customer’s billing cycle in December will actually be applied only towards the next calendar year.”

In addition, “despite assurances that points can be earned on purchases made using the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card (and potentially on flights booked) following the closing of the member’s billing cycle that ends with a December date.”

The Arizona man claims that if he knew the points made after the December closing date weren’t going to be added to his 2014 points, he would have changed the date in which his billing cycle ended to the end of the year, changed when he made his purchases in order to obtain a companion pass, or he wouldn’t have spent the money he did for the purpose of earning companion passes.

Couch is looking to represent a nationwide class of Southwest customers who made enough purchases “to earn 110,000 Rapid Reward points in a calendar year but who were not provided a Companion Pass as a result of Southwest’s exclusion, for Companion Pass purposes, of points earned on Rapid Rewards Credit Card purchases that are made after the members’ billing cycle end dates in December, but prior to the end of the calendar year, from the calendar year in which the purchases were made.”

He is charging Southwest with breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, promissory estoppel, and unjust enrichment.

The Arizona man is asking for injunctive relief and damages.

The plaintiff is represented by Robert B. Kleinman of Kleinman Law Firm PLLC, by Reid Elkus of Elkus, Sisson & Rosenstein, P.C., and by Steven Woodrow and Patrick Peluso of Woodrow & Peluso LLC.

The Southwest Rewards Points Class Action Lawsuit is Cory Couch v. Southwest Airlines Co., Case No. 3:15-cv-00367, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.