DOT goes after 2 more airlines over delayed flights
- The Department of Transportation sued Southwest Airlines, accusing it of selling flights with unrealistic schedules.
- Southwest operated chronically delayed flights on two routes in 2022, the DOT said.
- The agency also announced a $650,000 fine against Frontier Airlines for the same infraction.
The US Department of Transportation filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, accusing the carrier of selling flights with unrealistic schedules that operated chronically late.
According to the DOT, Southwest Airlines caused 90% of the delays on flights between Chicago Midway and Oakland, California, and between Baltimore and Cleveland, Ohio, during a five-month period in 2022. These delays resulted in 180 flight disruptions for passengers, the agency said in a release.
The department called the practice of selling chronically delayed flights with unrealistic schedules an "unfair and deceptive" way to capture business from competitors.
The DOT considers a flight chronically delayed if it operates at least 10 times a month and arrives more than 30 minutes late over 50% of the time.
The agency also announced a $650,000 fine to be paid by Frontier Airlines for similarly behind-schedule operations on three routes between St. Thomas and Orlando, Atlanta and Phoenix, and Orlando and Houston during 2022 and 2023.
The department said half of Frontier's $650,000 fine would be paid to the US Treasury. The remaining $325,000 will be suspended if the airliner does not operate any chronically delayed flights over the next three years.
Frontier Airlines declined to comment.
Earlier this month, JetBlue was hit with a $2 million fine for chronic delays.
DOT did not immediately respond to questions about why Southwest was sued while the other airlines were fined.
In a statement, a Southwest spokesperson said the airline is "disappointed that the DOT chose to file a lawsuit over two flights that occurred more than two years ago.
"Any claim that these two flights represent an unrealistic schedule is simply not credible when compared with our performance over the past 15 years," they added.
The spokesperson added that Southwest has operated more than 20 million flights without other infractions since the DOT's chronically delayed flight policy was enacted in 2009.