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Southwest Airlines accused San Antonio city and airport officials of making false representations to the court, misleading taxpayers and the city council, and deliberately concealing information from the airline in its latest legal filing in a lawsuit over the airport’s decision not to place Southwest in its new multi-billion-dollar Terminal C.
The amended complaint filed on Thursday pointed to new documents the city turned over to the court as proof that officials used unlawful “subjective factors” to decide which airlines received gate assignments in Terminal C— like how airlines “fit” the San Antonio International Airport (SAT).
The complaint specifically referenced a “Gating Scorecard Worksheet” SAT used to determine which airlines received Terminal C assignments, which included points for things like “club experience” and how the airlines related to the “desirability of passenger profile.” It said these points disadvantaged low-cost airlines that lack VIP clubs and violated the federal Airline Deregulation Act.
Southwest’s amended complaint also said the documents demonstrated that officials kept information from Southwest about the airport’s decision to keep the airline in Terminal A in order to prevent Southwest from asking for upgrades to the terminal.
It pointed to the deletion of a slide in a presentation given to Southwest that said the airline would occupy “nearly all of Terminal A” as one example. Because Southwest was kept “in the dark,” the airline said it was unable to negotiate with the city to renovate Terminal A to accommodate its future operations.
A statement from the San Antonio City Attorney’s Office flatly denied Southwest’s latest allegations.
“Based on a preliminary review, the amended complaint recasts Southwest’s previous allegations but adds distortions and misrepresentations,” the statement said. “Their claims continue to be without merit. The City’s processes in negotiating an Airline Use and Lease Agreement with all of the airlines and in assigning gates were legal and appropriate.”
A statement from Southwest said the documents proved the airline’s past allegations and that the city “misled SWA, taxpayers, and the City Council to the detriment of our Customers, Employees, and the Community.”
Southwest’s statement added that the airline “remain[s] willing to work with the City to find a reasonable solution.”
The amended complaint called on the court to rule the city’s approved Airline Use and Lease Agreements that made gate assignments for all airlines official void, award damages to Southwest for “Constitutional violations and false promises,” and attorneys' fees.
