Southwest reportedly gives passengers who were on fatal flight $5,000 check and a $1,000 travel voucher (LUV)
Mark Makela / Reuters
Southwest Airlines has sent a $5,000 check and promised a $1,000 travel voucher to passengers on Tuesday's flight that made an emergency landing after an engine exploded, ABC News reports.
The letters reportedly contain an apology from the airline, a customer service phone number recipients can call for assistance, a $5,000 check, and state that the airline will send the recipient a $1,000 travel voucher via email.
Southwest confirmed to Business Insider that it did send letters to passengers on Flight 1380 without commenting on the letters' contents.
Southwest Airlines has sent a $5,000 check and promised a $1,000 travel voucher to passengers on Tuesday's flight that made an emergency landing after an engine exploded, ABC News reports.
ABC News obtained copies of the letter passengers received. The letter contains an apology from the airline, a customer service phone number recipients can call for assistance, a $5,000 check, and states that the airline will send the recipient a $1,000 travel voucher via email.
"While the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continues its investigation as to the circumstances surrounding the accident, our primary focus and commitment is to assist you in every way possible," Southwest said in a copy of a letter obtained by ABC News. "We value you as our Customer and hope you will allow us another opportunity to restore your confidence in Southwest as the airline you can count on for your travel needs."
Southwest confirmed to Business Insider that it did send letters to passengers on Flight 1380 without commenting on the letters' contents.
"We can confirm the communication and gesture are authentic and heartfelt," an airline representative said.
Transportation lawyer and CNN analyst Mary Schiavo told the New York Post that airlines sometimes compensate passengers after particularly stressful flights.
“It gets money in the hands of people that need it for counseling or something,” she said.
On Tuesday, Flight 1380 made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after an engine exploded. One passenger died on the flight and seven were injured. The passenger who was killed was identified as Jennifer Riordan, 43.
National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt said the death was the first in a US passenger airline accident in over nine years. Before Tuesday, the most recent fatal accident came in February 2009 near Buffalo, New York, when an aircraft operated by the now-defunct regional airline Colgan Air crashed. Fifty people were killed in that crash — 49 people on the plane and one person on the ground.
The NTSB sent a team to Philadelphia to investigate the crash on Tuesday. The agency said a full investigation will take 12-15 months
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See Also:
Investigators find missing parts of Southwest engine that exploded
Investigators ask the public for any footage they have of the Southwest plane's engine explosion
Passenger killed in Southwest engine explosion was partially sucked out of plane's broken window
SEE ALSO: Here's what happened on the fatal Southwest Airlines flight
