The Department of Transport (DoT) has announced a lawsuit against Southwest airlines for “for illegally operating multiple chronically delayed flights and disrupting passengers’ travel”. The DoT also announced that Frontier Airlines would be fined $650,000 ($325,000 to be paid to the U.S. Treasury and the remaining $325,000 to be suspended if the carrier does not operate any chronically delayed flights in the next three years).
The DoT considers a flight to be chronically delayed if it is flown at least 10 times per month and arrives more than 30 minutes later more than 50% of the time. The full court filing can be found here.
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They left my daughter on Dec 10th stranded in Nashville overnight AND was a connection to her final destination. Long story short, I asked for a refund and they denied me. They said that since she accepted the two 15.00 meal vouchers that my refunded was not needed. Also all rooms for hotels they had held back were full. So she stayed awake until her next flight out in the late morning. She did not fall asleep and was miserable.
Soooooo, too bad that the CONSUMER isn't getting any of these fees the lovely government is fining them. Disgusting!
The new DOT’s Automatic Refund Rule doesn't cover rebooked flights. America always votes for corporations to do whatever they want. Maybe you should start voting for people that represent your interests. If you're a sad pathetic drunk that spreads propaganda and is a warmonger, Pete Hegseth will represent your interests.
This is exactly the reason I stopped flying Southwest years ago. They continually overbook flights and are constantly delayed. I know there are SWA loyalists out there; but IMO, they run a subpar product.
It’s obvious they actively work to shuffle passengers around to fill every seat; but when you are intentionally disrupting travel, to squeeze profits, you deserve to be called out.
Every airline sucks these days, minus Delta. Southwest certainly has lost its "underdog" charm of the 90's and early 2000's but at least they try to be different.
That's because the race to the bottom with "basic economy" has prompted more disruptive behaviors from passengers, and none of the airlines have really addressed it.
Mostly because Airlines don't want to be seen as "insensitive" against a certain group of people.
The overbooking isn't necessarily the main cause. There are two other big main causes, which can affects almost all flights, even the far-from-fully-booked ones:
1. Unlike other airlines which fly between hubs and spokes, Southwest doesn't really use true hubs, and mostly flies point to point to point, all around the country. So more of their planes are affected by local conditions such as weather SOMEWHERE in the country, where for hub-and-spoke airlines that only affects a far fewer percentages of their flights if the problem is only in one section of the country.
2. Unlike other airlines, Southwest has a "best bet" rather than "average bet" of arrival-to-departure scheduling. So because of this, more of their flights are actually going to be delayed than if they had more time allotted between arrival and departure.
The fact that these two airlines were fined and sued, and none the big 3 who the government has gone all out to protect and provide cover for, is very telling. Go after them all, or don't go after any of them. The merger if the mainlines is why air travel is miserable right now. Either break em up, or let JetBlue and Spirit merge.
You're missing the fact that these two airlines were fined/sued over delayed flights.
Read my reply above about the big reason Southwest flights truly are delayed more than most other airlines.
The DOT can't sue or fine an airline without a valid reason. It has to be a violation of established rules.
So what valid factual rule violation do you want them to fine/sue the big 3 which are NOT delayed anywhere near as much as Southwest?
Unless you're familiar with all those rules, you can't come up with a valid reason to sue another airline.
Just because you feel that an airline should be sued doesn't mean that there is a valid reason for them to be sued.
Hey Merrick - Chill out. You'll be out of office come Monday.