Southwest loses discrimination case after 1-cent payment ploy fails

Southwest Airlines lost a bid to toss out a racial discrimination lawsuit over a program offering free flights to some Hispanic students after a judge said the airline’s offer to provide the plaintiff’s relief did not render the lawsuit moot.

The airline’s ¡Lanzate Travel Award Program, which began in 2004 in partnership with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, had limited applications to Hispanic students, prompting the American Alliance for Equal Rights to file a lawsuit on behalf of two students, one white and one Asian, in May.