US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is suing Southwest Airlines has been blamed for “illegally operating numerous long-delayed flights and disrupting passenger travel.” According to a press release,
The USDOT investigation found that “Southwest operated two long-delayed flights – one between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, California, and the other between Baltimore, MD and Cleveland, Ohio – resulting in delays between April and August 2022.” 180 flights were disrupted for passengers between “According to the release. “Each flight was delayed for five consecutive months.”
USDOT says a flight is considered chronically delayed if it is flown at least 10 times a month and is delayed more than 30 minutes more than 50 percent of the time.
“Southwest is disappointed that DOT decided to file a lawsuit over two flights that occurred two years ago,” Southwest spokeswoman Laura Swift said in a statement. The Verge“Since DOT issued its Chronically Delayed Flight (CDF) policy in 2009, Southwest has operated more than 20 million flights without another CDF violation. Any claim that these two flights represent an unrealistic schedule is simply not credible compared to our performance over the past 15 years. In 2024, Southwest led the industry by completing more than 99% of its flights without cancellation.
Additionally, USDOT is taking “enforcement actions” against Frontier Airlines for operating long-delayed flights. USDOT has fined Frontier $650,000 in civil penalties; USDOT says that if Frontier “does not operate any long-delayed flights over the next three years, $325,000 will be paid to the U.S. Treasury, while another $325,000 will be suspended.”
Frontier Airlines spokeswoman Jennifer F. De la Cruz declined to comment.
Earlier this month, USDOT announced $2 million fine against JetBlue To handle long delayed flights. USDOT also fined Southwest Airlines in 2023 The holiday recession leaves millions stranded in 2022.