San Antonio Claps Back, Says Southwest Should Stop Worrying (and Pay Up)

Drama continues apace in San Antonio, where the airport and Southwest Airlines are locked in a legal battle over gate assignments and lease rates. Two weeks ago the carrier pushed the idea that the City was going to remove its branding from the check-in area and gates as the spaces reverted to common use designation, a necessary step given Southwest has not signed a new Airline Operating Agreement and Terminal Building Lease.

In a new filing the airport counters that claim, saying it is unfounded and “simply false.”

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Yes, the City admits, it intends to install common use passenger processing systems at ticket counters. But those systems do not require the removal of Southwest’s branding. They “allow airlines to log in to their proprietary system to process passengers for a flight while also connecting to the City’s system to calculate usage.” And those usage numbers define the amount Southwest is obligated to pay as a non-signatory.

In addition to allowing Southwest to continue using its internal systems at the check-in counters and gates, San Antonio shares in its brief that “the City never stated that it would remove Southwest signage, logos, and equipment from the ticketing areas, and it has no intention of doing so.”

San Antonio also argues “[I]t is entirely appropriate for the City to treat Southwest as a non-signatory airline for the simple, undisputed, and inescapable reason that Southwest has refused to sign the Airport-Airline Agreement approved by the San Antonio City Council. It is black-letter FAA policy that airport sponsors may charge different rates and charges to non-signatory airlines than to signatory airlines, Policy Regarding Airport Rates and Charges at ¶ 3.1.1 (Sept. 10, 2013). By refusing to sign the Airport-Airline Agreement, Southwest has made itself a non-signatory airline.”

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Not only is Southwest a non-signatory airline for not signing the contract, but Southwest also chose to not sign a “non-signatory airline agreement.” In its brief San Antonio notes it could do many of the things Southwest accuses it of or more – even denying it access to operate at the airport as it currently holds no valid agreement to do so. The City “has thus far, chosen to refrain from taking such a posture.”

Finally, and perhaps most damning, San Antonio dug in to the news archives and pulled out a few choice bits from 30 September 2024, the day prior to the new lease rates took effect.

At that time “Southwest’s then Vice President for Airport Affairs, Steve Sisneros, acknowledged that not signing the Airport-Airline Agreement would mean paying higher rates while it challenged the Agreement but it was worth it ‘to get it right.'”