CNN broke the big story Thursday that Southwest Airlines flew 117 of its planes for 30 months in violation of federal safety mandates. According to the FAA, these planes did not undergo routine safety checks and should have been grounded until the inspections could be completed.
Woah, scary! But I can still fly LA to NY for $99, right?
Congressional investigators deemed the planes "not airworthy."
Sounds serious! But if I give you 99 American Dollars, in exchange, you can (most likely) get me to New York today, right?
Congressman James Oberstar is expected to call a safety hearing, telling CNN "The result of inspection failures, and enforcement failure, has meant that aircraft have flown unsafe, unairworthy, and at the risk of lives."
Yikes! That is bad. So I click "Book Now" and I'm confirmed? I didn't even have to charge this on my credit card!
Sure, it's the most egregious safety violation in airline history. Yes, it may be the tip of the iceberg in a widespread case of negligence among FAA officials who knowingly let Southwest fly without meeting safety check standards. And okay, the safety issue in question is missed inspections on more than 47 planes specifically for cracks in the plane's skin. Cracks which were the cause in 1988 of an Aloha Airlines plane being ripped apart in mid-air, probably the most horrifying travel nightmare I'm capable of imagining.
But still...what'd you really expect for $99? Technically, Southwest has never specifically advertised that their planes wouldn't tear apart in mid-air. What they do advertise is:
- cheap flights
- many flights
- available flights, for cheap
- booze and honey-roasted peanuts
- online discounts
- ticketless check-in
- the opportunity to save money
So if you're flying the cheapest airline available, and all other options are more expensive, you have to know that costs are being cut somewhere. And when you think about the physical absurdities an airplane overcomes - lifting tons of matter and soaring as though weightless at hundreds of miles per hour - it doesn't seem like the incidental expense you'd really try to save money on.
Yet, airplane flights go on sale. And Southwest, the "Forever 21" of airlines, never even needs to have sales because it's always that cheap. But it also does go on sale, which has to make you wonder if you might be forgoing some quality or craftsmanship here. With Forever 21, you make purchases there knowing absolutely for certain that the clothes will fall apart. You just hope you're not in them when it happens.