US sues Southwest Airlines for chronic delays

The federal government sued Southwest Airlines on Wednesday, accusing the airline of harming passengers traveling on two routes plagued by continued delays in 2022.

In a lawsuit, the Department of Transportation said it was seeking more than $2.1 million in civil penalties for flights between airports in Chicago and Oakland, Calif., as well as Baltimore and Cleveland, which had were chronically delayed for five months that year.

“Airlines have a legal obligation to ensure that their flight schedules provide travelers with realistic departure and arrival times,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “Today’s action sends a message to all airlines that the Department is prepared to take legal action to enforce passenger protections. »

Carriers are prohibited from operating unrealistic flight schedules, which the Department of Transportation considers an unfair, deceptive and anti-competitive practice. A “chronically delayed” flight is defined as one that operates at least 10 times per month and is delayed by at least 30 minutes more than half the time.

In a statement, Southwest said it was “disappointed” that the department chose to pursue criminal charges over the flights that took place more than two years ago. The airline said it has operated 20 million flights since the Department of Transportation adopted its policy against chronically delayed flights more than a decade ago, without any further violations.

“Any assertion that these two flights represent an unrealistic schedule is simply not credible when compared to our performance over the past 15 years,” Southwest said.