Southwest Airlines reaches $140 million settlement over holiday flight-canceling meltdown last year
Southwest Airlines is paying $140 million to settle a government investigation over a meltdown last holiday season that led to thousands of canceled flights
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines will pay a $35 million fine as part of a $140 million settlement to resolve a federal investigation into a debacle in December 2022 when the airline canceled thousands of flights and stranded more than 2 million travelers over the holidays.
Most of the settlement will go toward compensating future passengers, which the U.S. Department of Transportation considers an incentive for Southwest to avoid repeating last winter's mess.
The government said the assessment was the largest it has ever imposed on an airline for violating consumer protection laws.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the settlement demonstrates his agency's resolve to make airlines take care of their passengers.
“This penalty should put all airlines on notice to take every step possible to ensure that a meltdown like this never happens again,” he said.
Southwest said it was “grateful to have reached a consumer-friendly settlement" that gives the airline credit for compensation it already provided to customers. The airline said it has “learned from the event, and now can shift its entire focus to the future.”
The assessment stems from nearly 17,000 canceled flights a year ago, which started as a winter storm paralyzed Southwest operations in Denver and Chicago and then snowballed when a crew-rescheduling system couldn't keep up with the chaos.
Even before the settlement, the nation's fourth-biggest airline by revenue said the meltdown cost it more than $1.1 billion in refunds and reimbursements, extra costs and lost ticket sales over several months.
The government
Read more on abcnews.go.com
