WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced that it filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for illegally operating multiple chronically delayed flights and disrupting passengers' travel.
DOT filed the lawsuit against Southwest jointly with the Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking maximum civil penalties.
Operating chronically delayed flights is an unrealistic scheduling practice and can harm both passengers and fair competition across the airline industry.
'As part of our commitment to supporting passenger rights and fairness in the market for airline travel, we are suing Southwest Airlines for disrupting passengers' travel with unlawful chronic flight delays,' said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. 'Airlines have a legal obligation to ensure that their flight schedules provide travelers with realistic departure and arrival times. Today's action sends a message to all airlines that the Department is prepared to go to court in order to enforce passenger protections.'
DOT's investigation found that Southwest operated two chronically delayed flights - one between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, Calif, and another between Baltimore, Md. and Cleveland, Ohio - that resulted in 180 flight disruptions for passengers between April and August 2022. Each flight was chronically delayed for five straight months.
Regardless of the cause of the disruption for any specific flight, DOT rules provide airlines adequate time to fix their schedule after a flight becomes chronically delayed in order to avoid illegal unrealistic scheduling. Southwest failed to fix the chronically delayed flights, DOT said in a press release.
DOT also took enforcement action against Frontier Airlines Wednesday for operating multiple chronically delayed flights. DOT fined Frontier $650,000 in civil penalties with $325,000 to be paid to the U.S. Treasury and the remaining $325,000 to be suspended if the carrier does not operate any chronically delayed flights in the next three years.
Federal regulations prohibit airlines from promising flight schedules that do not reflect actual departure and arrival times.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
