Southwest airplane at BWI Airport. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Attorneys from Philadelphia to Sherman Oaks, California, have filed a class action lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for allegedly failing to provide reimbursements for flights canceled as a result of the coronavirus.

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

Philadelphia attorney James Shah of Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah filed the suit, along with attorneys Jeff Ostrow of Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Hassan Zavareei of Tycko & Zavareei in Washington, D.C.; and Pearson, Simon & Warshaw lawyers Melissa Weiner in Minneapolis and Daniel Warshaw in Sherman Oaks.

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 plaintiff said in his 14-page complaint.

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

Like the suits filed in Illinois, the class action in Pennsylvania federal court also 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.

According to the complaint, in late February plaintiff Adrian Bombin bought a ticket to fly from BWI Airport to Havana, Cuba. A few days later, however, Southwest canceled flights to Havana as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The complaint said that by late March, the company announced it was canceling about 1,500 flights each day, or about 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 for the customer.

According to the complaint, after the cancellations, Dallas-based Southwest offered passengers to either rebook their flights to a different route that had not been canceled, or to obtain a travel credit. However, Bombin alleged that Southwest's Contract of Carriage mandates that when the carrier cancels flights, the company must provide for refunds, rather than credits.

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

"Here, plaintiff 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," Bombin said in the complaint. "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 cancelled 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."

According to the docket, the suit has been assigned to Judge John Gallagher.

Shah did not return a message seeking comment.

READ THE COMPLAINT: