U.S. Department of Transportation sues Southwest Airlines over chronic flight delays, fines Frontier $650,000

U.S. Department of Transportation sues Southwest Airlines over chronic flight delays, fines Frontier 0,000

Read Time:1 Minute, 40 Second

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines on Wednesday, alleging chronic delays in flights operated by the airline. The lawsuit alleges that flights from Chicago's Midway International Airport to Oakland, California, and from Baltimore to Cleveland were delayed nearly 200 times between April and August 2022. The Department of Transportation claimed that these flights were chronically delayed for five consecutive months, with Southwest Airlines responsible for additional delays. More than 90% of outages. According to the DOT's definition, a flight is considered chronically delayed if it operates at least 10 times a month with an arrival time of more than 30 minutes and a delay of more than half of these instances. This includes cancellations and diversions. The Department of Transportation's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, emphasizes that airlines must adjust their flight schedules when they become aware of ongoing delays. The Department of Transportation said Southwest failed to make necessary adjustments and continued to market flights with unrealistic schedules, ultimately causing significant harm to passengers. Southwest Airlines expressed disappointment in this regard, saying that the flight in question occurred more than two years ago. The airline noted that Southwest has operated more than 20 million flights without any violations since the Department of Transportation established the long-delayed flight policy in 2009. The airline argued that suggestions the timetable for the two flights was unrealistic was not credible given their performance over the past 15 years. In addition to the lawsuit against Southwest, the Department of Transportation fined budget airline Frontier Airlines $650,000 for operating long-delayed flights. However, half of the fine ($325,000) will be suspended if Frontier avoids operating multiple delayed flights over the next three years. Frontier Airlines has not yet responded to the fine. Like this: Like Loading… Learn more by subscribing with Baller Alert and get the latest posts delivered to your email.

Source link