Southwest Airlines mistakenly marketed cheap and inexpensive flights to three cities incorrectly, a recent probe has revealed.
According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Department of Transportation found the low-fare airline reportedly promoted $59 fares to Los Angeles, Calif, Chicago, Ill., and New York, N.Y. from Atlanta, Ga., through television ads in October, but did not open up seats at these prices.
The department subsequently penalized the airline $200,000 Thursday for reportedly breaking the federal full fare advertising rule that requires airlines show how much fares cost total, after the inclusion of taxes and fees. Southwest must also fork up another $100,000 from another offense a year earlier.
The ads, which eight Atlanta television stations showed in October, suggested consumers "Discover amazing low sales fares" of $59 to places like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago."
The airline told AP that it made necessary changes after realizing an inaccurate copy of the ad listed the wrong cities.
"As soon as we became aware of our mistake, we pulled all incorrect advertisements off the air," the airline said in a statement. Victimized passengers who requested the fares from the company's reservation center were later credited for their purchases.
The transportation department told AP the rule is nothing new for airlines.
"Airlines have long known that as part of rules governing fare advertising they must have a reasonable number or seats available at the advertised price," the transportation department said in a statement.
In their first instance, Southwest reportedly marketed $66 one-way fares from Dallas Love Field to Branson, Mo., from March 1, to March 21, 2013 after the transportation department investigated further, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The incident also cost the airline $200,000, but 50 percent of the penalty was suspended under a cease and desist order stating that the company would not break the same rule in a year's time.
