USDOT sues Southwest Airlines over ‘chronically delayed’ flights

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is suing Southwest Airlines for “illegally operating multiple chronically delayed flights and disrupting passenger travel,” according to a press release.

The USDOT investigation found that “Southwest operated two flights with chronic delays – one between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, California, and another between Baltimore, Maryland, and Cleveland, Ohio – which resulted in 180 flight interruptions for passengers between April and August 2022,” according to the press release. “Every flight has been chronically delayed for five months straight. »

A flight is considered chronically delayed if it “operates at least 10 times per month and arrives more than 30 minutes late more than 50 percent of the time,” USDOT says.

“Southwest is disappointed that the DOT has chosen to take legal action regarding two flights that occurred more than two years ago,” Southwest spokeswoman Laura Swift said in a statement to The edge. “Since the DOT issued its Chronically Delayed Flight (CDF) policy in 2009, Southwest has operated more than 20 million flights without further CDF violations. Any claim that these two flights represent an unrealistic schedule is simply not credible when compared to our performance over the past 15 years. In 2024, Southwest led the industry by flying more than 99% of its flights without cancellations.

Additionally, USDOT is taking “enforcement action” against Frontier Airlines for operating chronically delayed flights. USDOT fined Frontier $650,000 in civil penalties; the U.S. Treasury will receive $325,000, while the remaining $325,000 will be suspended if Frontier “does not operate any chronically delayed flights over the next three years,” USDOT says.

Frontier Airlines spokeswoman Jennifer F. de la Cruz declined to comment.

Earlier this month, USDOT announced a $2 million penalty against JetBlue for operating chronically delayed flights. USDOT also fined Southwest Airlines in 2023 for a holiday crash that stranded millions in 2022.