The US Department of Transportation has sued Southwest Airlines for violating federal rules by operating delayed flights on two routes. The lawsuit claims that Southwest’s flights between Chicago and Oakland, as well as Baltimore and Cleveland, were consistently late over five months in 2022. The airline could face a $2.1 million fine.
According to the Transportation Department, an airline is required to provide realistic departure and arrival times to its passengers. However, Southwest operated on routes where flights arrived at least 30 minutes late more than half the time. The department considers this practice unfair and deceptive.
Southwest has disputed the claims, saying that the two delayed flights do not represent a pattern of behavior for the airline. Despite this, the Transportation Department believes that Southwest was responsible for over 90% of the delays on these routes.
The lawsuit marks the second time in recent months that the department has penalized airlines for chronically delayed flights. Frontier Airlines was fined $650,000 last month after being found guilty of violating federal rules by operating late flights.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/business/southwest-airlines-lawsuit-frontier-flight-delays.html