The Transportation Department is taking action against Southwest and Frontier for chronic flight delays affecting passengers.
The lawsuit claims Southwest has been operating flights that are chronically delayed, which has messed up a lot of travel plans. They’re looking for some serious penalties here. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made it clear that airlines need to stick to realistic schedules.
Southwest had two flights that were delayed for five months straight, causing a ton of disruptions for passengers. Meanwhile, Frontier got slapped with a $650,000 fine, but they can avoid half of it if they keep their flights on time for the next three years.
This comes right after JetBlue was fined $2 million for similar issues. They argued that the government shares some blame for the delays, but the Transportation Department is not letting airlines off the hook easily.
Interestingly, a report showed that Southwest was 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 was way ahead with over 83%.
Regulators have been keeping a close eye on Southwest after some safety concerns, so it looks like they’re serious about making sure airlines follow the rules. It’s a big deal for travelers who just want to get to their destinations on time.
