Ultimately we always pay the price, one way or another. It's not like companies are just going to eat the fine. It's just going to be split up over the next few million airline tickets booked (or widgets sold, monthly subscription renewals, etc...)
That is why individuals responsible for corporate decisions that break the law must be held accountable. Take Rick Scott 's case biggest theft of Medicare at the time = Florida Senator???
God I wish we the people could make the decision to impeach 6 particular SCOTUSes. Actually, there are a lot I’d like to impeach but just too many to name. There’s not enough space. Question for a lawyer out there. Can a future president reverse a pardon? Please someone tell me yes and mean it!
Like they went out of business while I still had late fees, and before that there were other video stores I could use in my town, so I just never paid Blockbuster
From the article, it says that Southwest was assessed a $140 million penalty. $105 million going to consumers as compensation and $35 million to the US Treasury as a fine to be paid over 3 years from 2024 to 2026.
What happened here was that the Department of Transportation decided to waive the final year, which meant Southwest saves $11 million. Their reasoning is that Southwest earned it with the improvements they have made.
So likely, the fine was designed with this in mind. The Department likely had set progress goals and maybe Southwest had overachieved. Basically, they're letting all the airlines know that they are paying attention. Which is good.
So likely, the fine was designed with this in mind. The Department likely had set progress goals and maybe Southwest had overachieved. Basically, they're letting all the airlines know that they are paying attention. Which is good.
There remains the possibility that this wasn’t built into the fine structure, though, and performance was a convenient cover.
$35,000,000 of the assessed penalty shall be paid to the U.S. Treasury. We order
Southwest Airlines to pay $35 million of the penalty assessed in ordering paragraph
6, above, through Pay.gov to the account of the U.S. Treasury (“Cash Penalty”). Of
the $35 million due to the U.S. Treasury, $12 million shall be due and payable on or
before January 31, 2024, $12 million shall be due and payable on or before the
January 31, 2025, and the remaining $11 million shall be due and payable on or
before January 31, 2026. Payment of the Cash Penalty shall be made in accordance
with the instructions contained in the Attachment to this order. Failure to pay the
Cash Penalty as ordered shall subject Southwest Airlines to the assessment of
interest, penalty, and collection charges under the Debt Collection Act and to further
enforcement action for failing to comply with this order.
Thank you for actually reading the article (not just the headline) and providing this summary. Don't worry, no one else will bother as they'd rather be outraged about what they think is happening.
If you get a fine, trust me you'll still have to pay it even if you drive real fucking good afterwards.
More importantly, there was no provision allowing for the fine to be reduced in such a way, which means it's probably bs justification to hide corruption.
the trick is to wait them out! if u dont pay ur fine and u dont pay ur late fee, then they realize ur just a poor nonpaying bum and slowly stop harrassing u
Under a 2023 settlement reached by the Biden administration, Southwest agreed to a $140 million civil penalty. The government said at the time that the penalty was the largest it had ever imposed on an airline for violating consumer protection laws.
It's ok folks, crime is now legally protected speech for corporations.
Reports are coming out that they're having a hard time getting plea deals as defendants weigh the option of bribing the president for a pardon instead.
They are doing it wrong. You are supposed to run for president so that when you are charged they are forced to do nothing while they wait to see what happens.
I don't know. These days I think daring to announce your plan to run is more likely to get you arrested on trumped-up charges in order to prevent you from actually being able to.
TLDR - there are many sources on this topic, but basically the recent Roberts' court rulings have made paying POTUS for pardons legal. As a result, defendents are now considering just paying Trump directly instead of proceeding in a court of law.
Isn’t all crime legal in New Jersey because of this? No one can legally bring charges at the federal level without risk of throwing the cases out later.
I just love the fact that the corrupt GOP is the plaintiff, arguing to a corrupt GOP court, with an even more corrupt GOP administration agreeing with the plaintiff. Making things worse, the person appointed as defense clerked for Roberts and Kavanaugh, is a Federalist Society member, and already has overturning the Chevron deference as a career highlight.
As if the above didn't fuck us enough and guarantee the outcome, the defense strategy is "it doesn't matter, the FEC wasn't going to enforce the law anyways".
First, he argued, the case is moot – that is, no longer a live controversy – as a result of the Trump administration’s decision to change the FEC’s position. The challengers must show, he contended, “a real, concrete, and immediate threat of government enforcement” of the law. But in this case, the FEC agrees that the limits violate the Constitution, and President Donald Trump has barred the government from enforcing those limits. “There is no credible risk,” he wrote, “that the FEC will imminently bring an enforcement action against the Republican congressional committees, Vice President Vance, or former Representative Chabot.”
They had the gall to make it a "benefit" of getting their credit card. Those fuckers took it away in the first place! You know, along with all of the differentiating features they had that made me prefer them.
Yeah but its akin to a person robbing a bank and the punishment being only repaying the stolen money plus a fine. Then after you repay the money and some of the fine, the government reduces the fine because “you’ve done a good job not robbing banks”.
The government would never treat individual criminals this way, so people ate rightly outraged by kid gloves treeatment used on corporations.
“Of the $140 million civil penalty assessed against the carrier, Southwest is required to pay $35 million to the U.S. Treasury. Southwest will receive a $72 million offset toward the penalty for the $90 million compensation system DOT has ordered. Also, DOT will credit Southwest $33 million against the penalty for issuing 25,000 Rapid Reward points to passengers impacted by Southwest’s operational failures.”
If I remember correctly the issue was mainly caused by a ridiculously outdated system from the 90’s that Southwest neglected to update even after many concerns. The billions they recently invested should have been invested before this crisis ever happened
$105 million was offset to help southwest reimburse customers affected by that delay as well as customers in the future. The only money they were actually on the hook for was the $35 million. The DOT’s statement that they should receive credit for improving their technology is ridiculous. It’s what was absolutely necessary to be in compliance with consumer protection laws and should have been done years ago.
DOT’s argument that waiving the $11 million payment will incentivize other airlines to Improve and benefit the public doesn’t make too much sense to me either. That $11 million won’t make any improvements. All it does is let another corporation off of the hook.
Airlines violating consumer protection laws is not the problem with air travel. The problem as Sean Duffy, US Secretary of Transportation, has explained multiple times is that too many people wear sweatpants. What do you poors not understand??
Sean Duffy was an MTV reality TV star in the late 90s, appearing on
The Real World: Boston (1997) and Road Rules: All Stars (1998), where he met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and later on the Real World/Road Rules Challenge. These early shows featured him as a lumberjack athlete, leading to a subsequent career in politics and conservative media, including hosting on Fox Business and serving as a Trump administration official.
Cost Of Doing Business (CODB) is why BoA, Citi, Lloyd’s of London, and Deutsche Bank pay the hefty fines and think nothing of it. They’ll rake in billions in profits and be willing to pay $100 million in fines because of predatory practices.
"The department said Southwest should get credit for significantly improving its on-time performance and investing in network operations.
“DOT believes that this approach is in the public interest as it incentivizes airlines to invest in improving their operations and resiliency, which benefits consumers directly,” the department said in a statement. “This credit structure allows for the benefits of the airline’s investment to be realized by the public, rather than resulting in a government monetary penalty.”"
Next time I get a traffic ticket I'm going to ask the judge to waive the fine as I believe that this approach is in the public interest as it incentivizes me to invest in improving my operations and resiliency, which benefits traffic safety directly.
I mean, that literally happens. Have you ever deferred a speeding ticket? I had one knocked down from a 4 point infraction to a 1 point because the county prosecutor saw my safe driving record and cut me a break.
No, but I did get my license suspended over a $1.65 processing fee once. The fee was charged separately from the ticket, so payment never closed.
I had to pay a $75 fine for missed payments, I had to pay $150 to have my license reinstated, and another $100 for the court fee on top of the $175 I paid for the speeding ticket.
I was going 27 in a 25. It's the only ticket I've gotten in 17 years. Just because you get a break doesn't mean it's reliable nor that you even specifically deserve it. It's luck and nothing else, and luck is not a trait to build a justice system around, I think we can both agree on that.
You know I think I’d be in favor if we just multiplied all fines for unscrupulous business practices by 100, and then told companies if they remediate they get a discount. I think it’s a good incentive to actually get things done - if you just levy a fine then the company will see it as one and done, but if you give them a partial way out of it they’re much more likely to create long term changes that might have more benefit for the consumer.
Make no mistake about it. The Trump Admin is hostile to the interests of 99.9% of all Americans. To be sure, it is highly unAmerican. Oh yeah, fuck you, MAGA.
Boy that sure sets a great precedent. Caught violating consumer protection laws? Just drag your feet paying the fine long enough for the next administration to waive it.
So is this just what American politics will be forever? Every 4 years we 'switch' and the current president just spends all of their energy undoing everything the previous one did?
Hey, but remember the next time the far left grifter tells you that both sides are the same. While they make $30,000 plus an episode tell you not to vote for Democrats.
Where’s the dude in the mildly infuriating sub who got a penalty for owing $0.00 to the IRS? He should get in on this benefit that the government supposedly hands out now.
I don't understand the outrage in this thread, please help me understand. Is it because they included "Biden" in the title to get a reaction?
Southwest fucked up majorly in 2022 and was fined heavily. The article states it cost them over $1 billion in losses and part of the fine was to pay the US Treasury $35 million. Southwest, over the last two years, has paid $24 million of that specific fine. They were scheduled to pay the last $11 million this January and the US Treasury said, "Hey, don't worry about it anymore."
How are so many people in here upset at Southwest about this? They were going to pay, and then were told not to.
I can understand being upset at the US Treasury for changing their position, but being mad at Southwest? This is where I'm confused.
Edit: Or you can just downvote me without any meaningful discourse, typical Reddit.
You guys do know that $11 million of $1.1 billion in losses is only 1% right? The US Treasury cancelled 1% of their losses that they were scheduled to pay.
Southwest spends more money per day just in fuel costs than the $11 million the US Treasury just cancelled. Southwest still lost $1.1 billion.
The outrage in here is completely overblown and manufactured by obvious ragebait news article titles and you all fall for it so hard and never bother to look up the numbers on your own. This is why the news media does what they do.
They had this comment ready to go without checking what the rest of the people were talking about. Anything to muddy the water to not see more of Trump's corruption here.
$11 million of $1.1 billion in losses and fines is only 1%. The US Treasury let them have 1% of their total losses forgiven.
Southwest spends more money for fuel every day than the remaining fine amount that was just cancelled.
People in this thread who think that Southwest somehow is now getting away Scot-free are just wildly ignorant of the numbers. They took a huge loss that they are still recovering from today.
If someone robbed a bank and got convicted, would you be okay with the judge going "well the robbery conviction has hurt your income since no one will hire you, and you did pay the bank back what you stole, so we'll just waive part of the court fine for you" ?
I would not be upset at the "criminal" in your analogy, which is the entire point of my post. The "criminal" didn't make the decision to waive the fine.
Damn if I didn't pay a fine for 2 years I'd have a huge ass late fee, instead they get a discount.
Corporation paid a bribe and got a discount
The cost of doing business.
Americans are paying the price for the cost of having an openly corrupt criminal president.
Ultimately we always pay the price, one way or another. It's not like companies are just going to eat the fine. It's just going to be split up over the next few million airline tickets booked (or widgets sold, monthly subscription renewals, etc...)
That is why individuals responsible for corporate decisions that break the law must be held accountable. Take Rick Scott 's case biggest theft of Medicare at the time = Florida Senator???
Yeah, but if their competitors do a better job of providing service, and DON'T get fined, then their prices are lower, and you can use them instead.
God I wish we the people could make the decision to impeach 6 particular SCOTUSes. Actually, there are a lot I’d like to impeach but just too many to name. There’s not enough space. Question for a lawyer out there. Can a future president reverse a pardon? Please someone tell me yes and mean it!
The cost of open corruption.
Only time this ever worked for me was with Blockbuster late fees
Like you just waited them out?
Like they went out of business while I still had late fees, and before that there were other video stores I could use in my town, so I just never paid Blockbuster
So you bankrupted Blockbuster! If you had paid your late fees, they'd still be open.
Yes, my $12 in late fees was the straw that broke the camel's back. And I'd do it again!
You...monster!
From the article, it says that Southwest was assessed a $140 million penalty. $105 million going to consumers as compensation and $35 million to the US Treasury as a fine to be paid over 3 years from 2024 to 2026.
What happened here was that the Department of Transportation decided to waive the final year, which meant Southwest saves $11 million. Their reasoning is that Southwest earned it with the improvements they have made.
So likely, the fine was designed with this in mind. The Department likely had set progress goals and maybe Southwest had overachieved. Basically, they're letting all the airlines know that they are paying attention. Which is good.
There remains the possibility that this wasn’t built into the fine structure, though, and performance was a convenient cover.
Here’s what the consent order says about the fine:
Nice to see not even Southwest is exempt from Pay.gov and their processing fees.
Nothing here says that enforcement is discretionary.
Thank you for actually reading the article (not just the headline) and providing this summary. Don't worry, no one else will bother as they'd rather be outraged about what they think is happening.
This structure was not part of the fine. It was 2 payments of $12M and 1 payment of $11M, that’s it. There are no provisions for reducing the fine.
Unfortunately everything that happens in this administration has to be scrutinized and dissected.
There is overwhelming evidence and examples of this administration being openly bribed. There is no trust built.
This is what happens when you elect a notorious con man and convicted felon, so maybe stop acting like it isn’t warranted.
Oh come on, now I have to put the pitchfork back?
Not really though.
If you get a fine, trust me you'll still have to pay it even if you drive real fucking good afterwards.
More importantly, there was no provision allowing for the fine to be reduced in such a way, which means it's probably bs justification to hide corruption.
Feels like the system’s got its favorites.
Have you tried being really rich?
Did you remember pay 10% of the fine to the president?
the trick is to wait them out! if u dont pay ur fine and u dont pay ur late fee, then they realize ur just a poor nonpaying bum and slowly stop harrassing u
It's ok folks, crime is now legally protected speech for corporations.
Anybody who's got an ongoing federal court case is having their case tainted by unauthorized DOJ prosecutors
Reports are coming out that they're having a hard time getting plea deals as defendants weigh the option of bribing the president for a pardon instead.
They are doing it wrong. You are supposed to run for president so that when you are charged they are forced to do nothing while they wait to see what happens.
I don't know. These days I think daring to announce your plan to run is more likely to get you arrested on trumped-up charges in order to prevent you from actually being able to.
Can't tell if you're serious or not and that scares the shit out of me
It was from a big nyt article. I don't know the extent of the phenomenon, but it was enough for people at justice to notice.
Appreciate the info not shocked at this point waiting for the trump get out of jail card to go on sale with his phone and steaks and shit 😭😂😅
Wait, are you actually serious?!
That's what I read
Would love a source on this
Lawyers may need to engage with and vet the concept, consult with ethics counsel, and then advise the client if one of the most viable defense strategies is to offer as much money as possible to POTUS in exchange for a pardon.
TLDR - there are many sources on this topic, but basically the recent Roberts' court rulings have made paying POTUS for pardons legal. As a result, defendents are now considering just paying Trump directly instead of proceeding in a court of law.
It's a paywalled NYT article
Do you have a link?
Naw, it was a gift article. Shouldn't be too hard to find for someone with a subscription.
There isn't one.
Those pardons were pretty cheap in his first administration. Now, he offers a five for one price for brown nosery.
Well, the bribe is cheaper all things considered.
Isn’t all crime legal in New Jersey because of this? No one can legally bring charges at the federal level without risk of throwing the cases out later.
Been that way since Citizens United.
It's about to get a whole lot worse.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/12/court-to-hear-arguments-on-whether-to-further-cut-back-campaign-finance-limitations/
I just love the fact that the corrupt GOP is the plaintiff, arguing to a corrupt GOP court, with an even more corrupt GOP administration agreeing with the plaintiff. Making things worse, the person appointed as defense clerked for Roberts and Kavanaugh, is a Federalist Society member, and already has overturning the Chevron deference as a career highlight.
As if the above didn't fuck us enough and guarantee the outcome, the defense strategy is "it doesn't matter, the FEC wasn't going to enforce the law anyways".
Do we get free checked bags back?
They had the gall to make it a "benefit" of getting their credit card. Those fuckers took it away in the first place! You know, along with all of the differentiating features they had that made me prefer them.
you don't never get a reach around when they 🦆 you... those selfish ducks
Consumer protection is terrorism speech based on the Trump administration. Better keep those corps first.
It must be nice to live in a world with zero consequences cause those passengers paid a price while the airline got away with their fine waived.
[removed]
Yeah but its akin to a person robbing a bank and the punishment being only repaying the stolen money plus a fine. Then after you repay the money and some of the fine, the government reduces the fine because “you’ve done a good job not robbing banks”.
The government would never treat individual criminals this way, so people ate rightly outraged by kid gloves treeatment used on corporations.
Isn't SW now owned by a private equity firm?
[deleted]
“Of the $140 million civil penalty assessed against the carrier, Southwest is required to pay $35 million to the U.S. Treasury. Southwest will receive a $72 million offset toward the penalty for the $90 million compensation system DOT has ordered. Also, DOT will credit Southwest $33 million against the penalty for issuing 25,000 Rapid Reward points to passengers impacted by Southwest’s operational failures.”
https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/dot-penalizes-southwest-airlines-140-million-2022-holiday-meltdown
If I remember correctly the issue was mainly caused by a ridiculously outdated system from the 90’s that Southwest neglected to update even after many concerns. The billions they recently invested should have been invested before this crisis ever happened
$105 million was offset to help southwest reimburse customers affected by that delay as well as customers in the future. The only money they were actually on the hook for was the $35 million. The DOT’s statement that they should receive credit for improving their technology is ridiculous. It’s what was absolutely necessary to be in compliance with consumer protection laws and should have been done years ago.
DOT’s argument that waiving the $11 million payment will incentivize other airlines to Improve and benefit the public doesn’t make too much sense to me either. That $11 million won’t make any improvements. All it does is let another corporation off of the hook.
Appreciate you
They donated to Trump's campaign in 2016 and got a 2.3 billion dollar bailout.
Who do you think they donated the most to in 2024?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Follow_the_money
Why aren't you saying how much was waived?
The extortion|bribe was accepted and processed, it seems.
...That's the way the Cheato's administration runs things, is it not?
Seems like good ROI:
$257,374 to wipe out $140,000,000.
The amount waived was $11,000,000.
So only 42x return on investment instead of 540 times. Oh no...
That’s a massive difference. Nothing wrong with sticking to the facts.
From individuals. C’mon.
Did you even read the article you posted?
Airlines violating consumer protection laws is not the problem with air travel. The problem as Sean Duffy, US Secretary of Transportation, has explained multiple times is that too many people wear sweatpants. What do you poors not understand??
Guess we should've all been on a reality show....then we could head important government agencies and make up shit. Wild times.
I was unaware, so copypasting my search results:
Indeed, clearly the real crisis is my hoodie, not the delayed flights or hidden fees
Crime is a price tag for the rich.
Cost Of Doing Business (CODB) is why BoA, Citi, Lloyd’s of London, and Deutsche Bank pay the hefty fines and think nothing of it. They’ll rake in billions in profits and be willing to pay $100 million in fines because of predatory practices.
He is taking a bribe for it.
From the article
"The department said Southwest should get credit for significantly improving its on-time performance and investing in network operations.
“DOT believes that this approach is in the public interest as it incentivizes airlines to invest in improving their operations and resiliency, which benefits consumers directly,” the department said in a statement. “This credit structure allows for the benefits of the airline’s investment to be realized by the public, rather than resulting in a government monetary penalty.”"
Next time I get a traffic ticket I'm going to ask the judge to waive the fine as I believe that this approach is in the public interest as it incentivizes me to invest in improving my operations and resiliency, which benefits traffic safety directly.
Nah, you're just a lowly individual and not a billion dollar corporation so your argument would never work.
I mean, that literally happens. Have you ever deferred a speeding ticket? I had one knocked down from a 4 point infraction to a 1 point because the county prosecutor saw my safe driving record and cut me a break.
No, but I did get my license suspended over a $1.65 processing fee once. The fee was charged separately from the ticket, so payment never closed.
I had to pay a $75 fine for missed payments, I had to pay $150 to have my license reinstated, and another $100 for the court fee on top of the $175 I paid for the speeding ticket.
I was going 27 in a 25. It's the only ticket I've gotten in 17 years. Just because you get a break doesn't mean it's reliable nor that you even specifically deserve it. It's luck and nothing else, and luck is not a trait to build a justice system around, I think we can both agree on that.
I‘m okay with reducing sentencing for good behavior 🤷♀️
Do you really think that's what this is?
You know I think I’d be in favor if we just multiplied all fines for unscrupulous business practices by 100, and then told companies if they remediate they get a discount. I think it’s a good incentive to actually get things done - if you just levy a fine then the company will see it as one and done, but if you give them a partial way out of it they’re much more likely to create long term changes that might have more benefit for the consumer.
No, but OP related it to a traffic ticket.
We all know that not fining companies incentivizes them to do the right thing more than fining them!
They must’ve let Trump see the cockpit or some shit
Gave him those little plastic pilot wings
Spray-painted gold
These titles really need to say "Trumps government", "Trumps DOJ", "Trumps CPB".
By not spelling out what's going on they help launder the idea that this is just part of normal government operations.
Make no mistake about it. The Trump Admin is hostile to the interests of 99.9% of all Americans. To be sure, it is highly unAmerican. Oh yeah, fuck you, MAGA.
So... from now on, corporations legit will just not pay fines anymore and just bank on the next president being a republican again.
Boy that sure sets a great precedent. Caught violating consumer protection laws? Just drag your feet paying the fine long enough for the next administration to waive it.
When I paid my student loans on time for a year the government gave me a 0.025% reduction in interest.
We're not playing the same game.
The check must have cleared!
So is this just what American politics will be forever? Every 4 years we 'switch' and the current president just spends all of their energy undoing everything the previous one did?
Most corrupt administration of all time?
Graft and fraud are no longer illegal in this Republican Regime, at least if Trump gets a cut.
And yet there are still morons out there who insist that both parties are the same.
What did they give the orange toddler a gold rattle or something?
Hey, but remember the next time the far left grifter tells you that both sides are the same. While they make $30,000 plus an episode tell you not to vote for Democrats.
I guess the orange Kings wearing another gold peace medallion
How wonderful, especially after Elliott investment bought a huge stake in them. Fuck em
They probably brought 2 million of Trump meme coin.
Of course, the dump admin loves corruption.
Just remember that all the corruption happening now used to have consequences.
Did Southwest award Trump the Southwest Medal of Honor?
Everything to avoid money for the government.
Yes, because let's give the criminals breaks. I mean that's what the American government is good at doing, right?
cool cool cool so they will just do it again
So the rich are above the law now in daylight.
They have been for 10 months now
10 millennia. And then some.
There no longer accountability in business for any thing that violates the law, period...
FTA. Profit first. Customers last
This whole administration has no end to what they would do, they openly doing what ever they feel like doing.
Where’s the dude in the mildly infuriating sub who got a penalty for owing $0.00 to the IRS? He should get in on this benefit that the government supposedly hands out now.
I'm kind of surprised to not see Southwest on the list of ballroom donors
This is what happens when you elect a morally bankrupt billionaire who empathizes with the other morally bankrupt investors.
Obviously, they’re on Trump’s good side.
[removed]
So if we, as regular people, have to pay a fine then we only need to pay 92% of it. Got it. Let's see how that goes.
Does this mean they won't charge for bags or require seat pre-selection?
I don't understand the outrage in this thread, please help me understand. Is it because they included "Biden" in the title to get a reaction?
Southwest fucked up majorly in 2022 and was fined heavily. The article states it cost them over $1 billion in losses and part of the fine was to pay the US Treasury $35 million. Southwest, over the last two years, has paid $24 million of that specific fine. They were scheduled to pay the last $11 million this January and the US Treasury said, "Hey, don't worry about it anymore."
How are so many people in here upset at Southwest about this? They were going to pay, and then were told not to.
I can understand being upset at the US Treasury for changing their position, but being mad at Southwest? This is where I'm confused.
Edit: Or you can just downvote me without any meaningful discourse, typical Reddit.
You guys do know that $11 million of $1.1 billion in losses is only 1% right? The US Treasury cancelled 1% of their losses that they were scheduled to pay.
Southwest spends more money per day just in fuel costs than the $11 million the US Treasury just cancelled. Southwest still lost $1.1 billion.
The outrage in here is completely overblown and manufactured by obvious ragebait news article titles and you all fall for it so hard and never bother to look up the numbers on your own. This is why the news media does what they do.
I see very few posts mad at Southwest, the vast majority are mad at the government for letting a corporation off yet again.
They had this comment ready to go without checking what the rest of the people were talking about. Anything to muddy the water to not see more of Trump's corruption here.
"letting a corporation off yet again"
Except Southwest isn't a winner here?
$11 million of $1.1 billion in losses and fines is only 1%. The US Treasury let them have 1% of their total losses forgiven.
Southwest spends more money for fuel every day than the remaining fine amount that was just cancelled.
People in this thread who think that Southwest somehow is now getting away Scot-free are just wildly ignorant of the numbers. They took a huge loss that they are still recovering from today.
If someone robbed a bank and got convicted, would you be okay with the judge going "well the robbery conviction has hurt your income since no one will hire you, and you did pay the bank back what you stole, so we'll just waive part of the court fine for you" ?
I would not be upset at the "criminal" in your analogy, which is the entire point of my post. The "criminal" didn't make the decision to waive the fine.
You have not been on reddit long enough. Outrage is the only possible reaction. I've long since given up on intelligent reaction.
People react based on emotion, not intellect. The stupider the reply the more votes it gets, careful, thought out replies get barely any attention.