The Transportation Department is stepping up enforcement of persistent flight delays with a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines and a fine against Frontier Airlines.
The agency said in a U.S. District Court lawsuit filed Wednesday in California that Southwest illegally operated chronically delayed flights and disrupted passengers’ travel plans, the agency said. He says he is seeking “maximum civil penalties.”
“Airline schedules have a legal obligation to provide travelers with realistic departure and arrival times,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “Today’s action sends a message to all airlines that the department is prepared to take legal action to ensure passenger protection.”
The Department of Transportation said its investigation involved two chronically delayed Dallas-based Southwest flights — one between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, Calif., and the other between Baltimore, Maryland and Cleveland, Ohio.
Both flights have been chronically delayed for five straight months, resulting in a total of 180 passenger cancellations between April and August 2022, the agency said.
In a statement, Southwest said it was disappointed that the agency focused on flights from more than two years ago and instead pointed to the long-term record.
“Since DOT issued its Chronic Delayed Flight (CDF) policy in 2009, Southwest has flown more than 20 million flights without another CDF violation. “Any claim that these two flights form an unrealistic schedule is not credible compared to our performance over the past 15 years,” the company said. “In 2024, Southwest led the industry by completing more than 99% of its flights without cancellations.”
The department fined Frontier Airlines $650,000 in civil penalties, $325,000 to be paid to the U.S. Treasury, and the remaining $325,000 to be suspended if the carrier does not operate chronically delayed flights for the next three years. Denver-based Frontier declined to comment.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after the Transportation Department fined JetBlue $2 million for chronic delays, the first time it has imposed delay penalties on specific routes. The agency cited JetBlue’s chronic delays due to “unrealistic scheduling.” Later, JetBlue said the government, which runs the air traffic control system, shared the blame for the delayed flights.
Aviation data provider Cirium said in a report this month that Southwest ranked fifth among 10 North American airlines it rates for on-time performance last year, with 77.8% of arrivals and just under 77% of departures. way on time. By comparison, top-tier Delta Air Lines scored 83.5% for arrivals and 83.7% for departures.
Last year, federal regulators stepped up scrutiny of Southwest Airlines after a series of incidents, including a low-altitude flight miles from the airport. The Federal Aviation Administration said in July it wants to ensure the carrier complies with federal safety regulations. The FAA declined to provide details, but noted that it regularly regulates air traffic control based on risk.