raptor10 said:
Sounds Like they were outright lying...
And you know this how? Because some newspaper articles says so?
There could be many reasons for the difference in stories.
SWA can not start the approach with the visibility below minimums. Even if their Op Specs allowed them to land with the tower closed, they have this problem. Maybe the ATIS was reporting below mins but the SWA people on the ground said it was higher. The SWA people are not an approved weather reporting facility. Since the tower was closed, the pilots have to go with the ATIS. So because the tower was closed, they had to turn back.
Maybe the first SWA plane did not go missed because of the weather. Maybe it was because he got a late switch from approach to tower and then found out the tower was closed. If his Op Specs require the tower to be open, then he would have to go missed.
There is probably fault on both the FAAs & SWA's part. You do not have all the information to blindly say "Sounds like they were outright lying". Most airlines will not do that because the PR from that is a lot worst than the PR from telling the truth.
It's bad enough that news reporters never get aviation stories right.