The administration of President Joe Biden sued Southwest Airlines on Wednesday, accusing it of illegally operating chronically delayed flights that disrupted passengers’ travel. In a civil suit filed in U.S. District Court Northern California by the U.S. Transportation Department, it claimed that Southwest Airlines, based in Texas had operated unrealistic schedules and should have to pay maximum civil penalties. The Justice Department also joined the suit.
Southwest Airlines operated two chronically late flights between Chicago Midway, California, and Baltimore, Ohio, for five consecutive months in 2022. One flight was between Chicago Midway, California, and Oakland.
“Today’s action sends to all airlines a clear message that the department is willing to go to court to enforce passenger protections,” Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg announced.
The department has also fined Frontier Airlines USD 650 000 for operating multiple flights that were chronically delayed. Frontier, which declined comment, will pay USD 325,000 and must pay the rest if it operates chronically delayed flights within the next three year.
Southwest is disappointed that USDOT has chosen to sue “over flights that took place more than two years earlier.” Southwest has said that it has operated more 20 million flights without any violations since 2009.
Southwest said that any claim that the two flights are unrealistic is simply untrue when compared to its performance over 15 years. Southwest Airlines led the industry in 2024 by completing over 99percent of its flights without cancelation.
According to USDOT rules a flight is chronically late if it is at least 10 times per month and arrives at least 50% of the time more than 30 minutes later. It was not known if the new administration of Donald Trump would file a lawsuit.
Southwest will provide USD 90,000,000 in travel vouchers worth USD 75 or more in December 2023 to passengers who have been delayed for at least three (3) hours because of a problem or cancellation caused by the airline. This is a part of a settlement with the USDOT over its December 2022 holiday meltdown.
USDOT has fined JetBlue Airways US$ 2 million for four flights that were consistently delayed on domestic routes. This was the first time an airline had been fined for a prohibited scheduling practice.
JetBlue agreed that it would pay a USD1 million fine, with the remaining amount going to compensate customers. JetBlue agreed that it would provide vouchers for a minimum amount of USD 75 to passengers in the event of future flight cancellations, delays of more than three hours, or other airline-caused delays.
USDOT reported that JetBlue operated a number of chronically delayed flights in 2022 and 2023 between New York, Raleigh-Durham and Orlando, as well as a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
USDOT sought comments on whether it could mandate cash compensations for airlines that cause long delays or cancellations.