The Transportation Department is suing Southwest Airlines for chronic flight delays, seeking maximum penalties for disrupted travel plans.
Washington: The Transportation Department is really cracking down on airlines lately. They just filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for running flights that are always late. It’s a big deal because they want to protect travelers.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made it clear that airlines need to stick to realistic schedules. He said they have a legal duty to make sure their flight times are accurate. This lawsuit is a warning to all airlines that the government means business.
According to the lawsuit, Southwest had two flights that were consistently delayed for five months. One was from Chicago to Oakland, and the other was from Baltimore to Cleveland. Together, they caused a whopping 180 disruptions for passengers between April and August 2022.
On top of that, the Transportation Department also fined Frontier Airlines $650,000 for similar issues. Half of that fine is on hold, but only if they don’t have any chronically delayed flights in the next three years.
This news comes right after JetBlue was hit with a $2 million fine for their own delays. They argued that the government shares some blame for the late flights, but the Transportation Department is not letting airlines off the hook easily.
Interestingly, a report showed that Southwest ranked fifth among North American airlines for on-time performance last year. They had about 77.8% of arrivals on time, which isn’t too bad, but Delta Air Lines was ahead with over 83%.
Last year, regulators started paying more attention to Southwest after some concerning incidents, including flying too low near airports. The FAA is keeping a close eye on them to make sure they follow safety rules.
