The U.S. Department of Transportation is increasing efforts to address ongoing flight delays by filing a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines and imposing a fine on Frontier Airlines.
The lawsuit, filed in a California federal court on Wednesday, accuses Southwest of operating flights with chronic delays that disrupted passengers’ travel plans. The Department is seeking the highest possible civil penalties.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized that airlines must provide realistic departure and arrival times in their schedules, noting that the action taken against Southwest is a warning to all carriers that the department will take legal action to enforce passenger rights.
The Department’s investigation revealed that Southwest operated two flights with consistent delays: one route between Chicago Midway and Oakland, California, and another between Baltimore and Cleveland.
According to the agency, both flights were delayed consistently for five months in a row, leading to a total of 180 disruptions for passengers between April and August 2022.
Southwest Airlines expressed disappointment over the Department of Transportation’s decision to focus on flights that occurred more than two years ago, instead of emphasizing its overall long-term performance. The airline highlighted that since the DOT’s Chronically Delayed Flight (CDF) policy was introduced in 2009, Southwest has flown over 20 million flights without any further CDF violations. Southwest argued that claims about the two delayed flights being part of an unrealistic schedule are not credible, especially when compared to its performance over the past 15 years. Additionally, the airline noted that in 2024, it led the industry by completing over 99% of its flights without cancellations.
Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation fined Frontier Airlines $650,000 in civil penalties. Of this, $325,000 is to be paid to the U.S. Treasury, while the other half will be suspended, provided Frontier does not operate any chronically delayed flights over the next three years. Frontier, based in Denver, chose not to comment on the fine.
This announcement follows a $2 million fine imposed on JetBlue by the Department of Transportation less than two weeks ago for chronic flight delays. This was the first time the agency fined an airline for delays on specific routes, citing “unrealistic scheduling” as the cause.
JetBlue responded by pointing out that the government, which manages the air traffic control system, also shares responsibility for the delays.
According to aviation data provider Cirium, Southwest ranked fifth in on-time performance among the 10 North American airlines it assessed, with 77.8% of arrivals and just under 77% of departures in 2024 being on time. In comparison, top-ranked Delta Air Lines had on-time rates of 83.5% for arrivals and 83.7% for departures.
Federal regulators increased their oversight of Southwest Airlines last year after several incidents, including flights operating at dangerously low altitudes far from airports. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated in July that it was closely monitoring Southwest to ensure compliance with safety regulations. The FAA declined to offer further details but emphasized that its oversight of airlines is adjusted based on perceived risk.
