Fort Lauderdale attorney Jeff Ostrow is on a legal team filing a class action lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for allegedly failing to provide reimbursement for flights canceled as a result of the coronavirus.

Four law firms filed Bombin v. Southwest Airlines on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, arguing the company's policy of offering credits for canceled flights violates its contract with customers and federal law.

Ostrow is a partner with Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert in Fort Lauderdale, one of the airline's focus cities for domestic and international flights.

Other plaintiffs attorneys on the case are James Shah of Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah in Philadelphia, Hassan Zavareei of Tycko & Zavareei in Washington, D.C., and Pearson, Simon & Warshaw lawyers Melissa Weiner in Minneapolis and Daniel Warshaw in Sherman Oaks, California.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Pennsylvania man whose flight was canceled last month due to the ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus.

"Despite the fact that plaintiff could not take the flight he booked and defendant could not offer any comparable accommodations on another flight, plaintiff was not given a refund but was only offered a credit for use on a future flight," the 14-page complaint said.

The lawsuit is similar to a pair of class action suits filed against United Airlines earlier this month. Both were filed in the Northern District of Illinois. Daniel Herrera of Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel and Joseph Sauder of Sauder Schelkopf filed one lawsuit, and Hagens Berman Sobol & Shapiro lawyer Steve Berman filed the other.

Like the suits filed in Illinois, the class action in Pennsylvania federal court focuses in part on the U.S. Department of Transportation's mandate that airlines fully refund passengers whose flights were canceled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In late February, Adrian Bombin bought a ticket to fly from Baltimore/Washington International Airport to Havana. A few days later, Southwest canceled flights to Havana as a result of the  pandemic. The complaint said that by late March, the company announced it was canceling about 1,500 flights a day, or 40% of its normal daily service.

On April 3, the DOT issued an enforcement notice saying airlines are obligated to refund passengers for flights that were canceled or significantly changed in ways that were not acceptable to the customer.

After the cancellations, Dallas-based Southwest offered to either rebook on flights that had not been canceled or issue a travel credit. Bombin alleged Southwest's contract of carriage mandates that when the carrier cancels flights, the company must provide refunds rather than credits.

Given the contract provisions and the DOT mandate, Bombin alleged the carrier needs to provide refunds to all customers whose flights were canceled beginning in early March.

Bombin "was not given the choice of being transported on the next available flight at no additional charge. His flight was canceled and there were no alternative Southwest flights to accommodate him from the trip's origin (BWI) to his destination," the complaint said. "He had not used any portion of the ticket for his trip. Thus, pursuant to the terms of the Contract of Carriage, plaintiff is entitled to a refund of the fare for the entire trip in U.S. dollars to his original form of payment."

The suit raises a single breach of contract claim.

In an emailed statement, a spokesman for Southwest said the company has some of the most "customer-friendly policies in the industry."

"If a flight is canceled by Southwest, customers may select a new flight between the same origin and destination on any date (currently extended until 60 days from the original date of travel) without paying any difference in fare, may receive travel funds for future use (currently extended to June 30, 2021), or may request a refund to the original form of payment," spokesman Brian Parrish said. "Southwest will review this complaint and will defend our policies accordingly as our focus is always on taking care of our customers, especially during these unprecedented times."

The lawsuit has been assigned to Judge John Gallagher.

Read the complaint: