Southwest Air Faces US Lawsuit for ‘Chronic Flight Delays’

By Allyson Versprille and Mary Schlangenstein | January 16, 2025

Southwest Airlines Co. was sued by the U.S. Transportation Department for allegedly violating rules that require airlines to set and meet realistic flight schedules.

The carrier was responsible for “unlawful chronic flight delays” that disrupted passengers’ travel plans, the agency said Wednesday in a statement. The Transportation Department said it would seek “maximum civil penalties” against Southwest in the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Oakland, California.

Southwest said in a separate statement that it was “disappointed that DOT chose to file a lawsuit over two flights that occurred more than two years ago.” The airline said that since the agency issued a policy on chronic delays in 2009, Southwest has operated more than 20 million flights with no other such violations.

“Any claim that these two flights represent an unrealistic schedule is simply not credible when compared with our performance over the past 15 years,” Southwest said. The company remains in touch with the government and is open to “discussions about a reasonable settlement.”

The lawsuit comes in the waning days of the Biden administration, which has taken a hard line against airlines over consumer protection issues. The administration of President-elect Donald Trump is expected to take a more lenient approach to some regulatory issues.

It adds to challenges the airline is already facing, including an aggressive activist investor, underperforming shares and competitive pressures as larger rivals attract more price-sensitive consumers. The carrier has paused hiring for management, headquarters jobs and outside workers, and it’s making major changes to its business model — adding assigned and more-spacious seats — as it faces higher labor and operating costs.

Two Flights

US rules define a “chronically delayed flight” as one flown at least 10 times a month that arrives more than 30 minutes late more than 50% of the time. It’s considered an unfair and deceptive business practice if such a flight is offered for more than four consecutive months.

The department said its investigation found that Southwest operated two chronically delayed flights — one between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, California, and another between Baltimore and Cleveland. The carrier’s actions resulted in 180 flight disruptions for passengers between April and August 2022, the US government alleged.

Southwest had an on-time rate of 77.8% last year, according to a report issued recently by aviation data tracker Cirium, ranking it sixth among US carriers included in the report. Delta Air Lines Inc. was the leader, with an on-time rate of 83.46%.

The Transportation Department also said it fined budget carrier Frontier Airlines $650,000 over similar violations — half of which will be suspended if the carrier doesn’t operate any chronically delayed flights in the next three years. The airline, owned by Frontier Group Holdings Inc., declined to comment.

The moves come less than two weeks after the department announced a $2 million fine for JetBlue Airways Corp. over the same issue.

Top photo: Southwest Airlines planes at Baltimore-Washington Airport in Baltimore, Maryland. Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg.

Was this article valuable?

Here are more articles you may enjoy.