Southwest pays $15M to settle price-collusion lawsuit

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If you’ve just found it too expensive to fly during the last eight years or so, there might be a very good reason why.

RELATED: Here’s how your passport could be useless, even if it’s not expired

Southwest settles to avoid further court costs

Southwest Airlines — which is famous for its “your first two bags fly free” ad campaign — has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a price-collusion lawsuit.

The class-action suit alleged that the Dallas-based carrier and three other airlines conspired to limit the number of seats to keep ticket prices high dating back to 2009.

Without admitting to any wrongdoing, Southwest agreed to settle the charges to avoid the expense of further litigation.

American, Delta and United were also named as defendants in the suit. Those three all plan to continue fighting the allegations.

Reuters reports Southwest has “agreed to help the plaintiffs with their case against the remaining defendants.”

Follow Clark’s #1 rule of cheap travel

If you’ve been following the airfare deals at ClarkDeals.com, you might find it hard to reconcile this lawsuit with what’s happening in the marketplace at this point.

Right now, Southwest has one-way fares starting as low as $40 for domestic travel between January 23 through May 23, 2018!

But the real key to saving money is not tied to any one specific or airline or sales period. If you really want to save big bucks, follow money expert Clark Howard’s advice.

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He’s said it for years, but it bears repeating:

Buy the deal first and then figure out why you want to go there!

With that in mind, Kayak Explore lets you find great airfare deals on a budget. You simply select how much you’re willing to pay, and then available destinations in your price range pop up on a world map. You can drill down further by season and month of travel.

RELATED: In October, travelers from these 9 states may need passports to fly domestically

Don’t get blindsided by airline fees

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