The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) is taking legal action against Southwest Airlines for “unlawfully running several chronically postponed flights and interfering with guests' travel,” according to a news release.
The USDOT's examination discovered that “Southwest ran 2 chronically postponed flights– one in between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, Calif, and another in between Baltimore, Md. and Cleveland, Ohio– that led to 180 flight disturbances for guests in between April and August 2022,” per the release. “Each flight was chronically postponed for 5 straight months.”
A flight is thought about chronically postponed if “it is flown at least 10 times a month and shows up more than 30 minutes late more than 50 percent of the time,” the USDOT states.
“Southwest is dissatisfied that DOT picked to submit a claim over 2 flights that took place more than 2 years earlier,” Southwest representative Laura Swift states in a declaration to The Verge“Since DOT released its Chronically Delayed Flight (CDF) policy in 2009, Southwest has actually run more than 20 million flights without any other CDF infractions. Any claim that these 2 flights represent an impractical schedule is merely not reliable when compared to our efficiency over the previous 15 years. In 2024, Southwest led the market by finishing more than 99% of its flights without cancellation.”
In addition, the USDOT is taking “enforcement action” versus Frontier Airlines for running chronically postponed flights. USDOT has actually fined Frontier $650,000 in civil charges; the United States Treasury will be paid $325,000, while the other $325,000 will be suspended if Frontier “does not run any chronically postponed flights in the next 3 years,” the USDOT states.
Frontier Airlines representative Jennifer F. de la Cruz decreased to comment.
Previously this month, USDOT revealed a $2 million charge versus JetBlue for running chronically postponed flights. The USDOT likewise fined Southwest Airlines in 2023 over a vacation crisis that stranded millions in 2022.
