US DOT Drops Lawsuit Over Delayed Southwest Flights

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has officially dropped its January 2025 lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, which had accused the carrier of operating chronically delayed flights on at least two routes.

According to court documents filed on May 16, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the DOT submitted a notice of voluntary dismissal. No specific reason was provided for the decision to withdraw the case.

“We appreciate the DOT’s decision to abandon its lawsuit against Southwest, which we believe is the correct result in this case,” the airline said in a statement to USA Today.

The lawsuit was originally filed under then-Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and alleged that Southwest engaged in unfair and deceptive practices by knowingly offering flights it could not operate on schedule. The routes cited in the complaint included services from Oakland International to Chicago O’Hare and from Baltimore/Washington International to Cleveland Hopkins.

The DOT argued these routes were plagued by persistent delays and claimed Southwest misled consumers by advertising unrealistic schedules. The lawsuit sought civil penalties and an injunction to stop the carrier from continuing the practice.

Southwest maintained that it did not misrepresent its schedule and argued that delays were often due to external factors such as weather and air traffic control constraints.

This case followed similar enforcement actions by the DOT, including fines issued in 2024 and 2025 to other carriers, such as USD650,000 to Frontier Airlines and USD2 million to JetBlue Airways for similar violations related to flight schedule reliability.

Related News: https://airguide.info/category/air-travel-business/airline-finance/

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, ch-aviation.com