FAA investigates luggage weight discrepancies in the Southwest: WSJ



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(Reuters) – The US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating Southwest Airlines Co's widespread lack of tracking of the total weight of checked baggage loaded into its jet planes, according to a Wall Street Journal report released on Monday.

A one-year civil investigation conducted by the US Aviation Safety Agency revealed systemic and significant errors in employee calculations and baggage charging practices, which could lead to discrepancies when pilots calculate takeoff weights, said the newspaper citing government officials and internal documents at the agency.

The FAA has not yet decided to impose fines or other sanctions, said the report citing people close to the investigation.

The inaccuracies ranged from a few dozen pounds to more than 1,000 pounds more than what the scriptures indicated, which caused conflicts between the company and some agency inspectors about the consequences. potential for security, the report said.

A spokesman for the company said that there was an open letter of inquiry, which is a common mechanism for the FAA to document and share security interests or concerns with an airline. .

The airline has not been fined and is currently not subject to any enforcement action, said Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King.

"In this case, the letter of intent responds to a problem that Southwest voluntarily reported to the FAA last year." Since then, Southwest has put in place controls to address the concerns of mass programs and centering, and shared these steps with the FAA, "King said.

The FAA could not be contacted immediately for comment.

(Report by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru, edited by Bernadette Baum)

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