Washington, D.C. — Following news that U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and Department of Justice have dropped their lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for failing to address chronic problems on two routes—Chicago-Oakland and Baltimore-Cleveland—that caused 180 flight disruptions for five straight months in 2022, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“By dismissing this case, the Trump administration is effectively telling every airline in America it’s open season on passengers — go ahead and print phantom schedules you can’t deliver,” said William J. McGee, Senior Fellow for Aviation & Travel at American Economic Liberties Project. “It took many years for the DOT to finally crack down on the ‘unrealistic scheduling’ of airlines chronically delaying flights, but it only took four months for the Trump administration to dismiss the landmark Biden-era lawsuit against Southwest Airlines. Delayed flights are often blamed on weather, air traffic control, or Covid (as Southwest claimed), allowing airlines to avoid compensating passengers under the fine print of their self-serving contracts. But the truth is, it’s often the airline’s own unrealistic scheduling that’s to blame — and this case would’ve proven it in court.”

Under former Secretary Pete Buttigieg the DOT filed suit against Southwest Airlines in January 2025, claiming the airline violated the Department’s unfair or deceptive practices rule. Although iterations of this rule date back to 1957, the Southwest suit marked the first time the DOT had taken such action. In 2022, flights on Southwest’s Chicago-Oakland and Baltimore-Cleveland routes were delayed 180 times for five straight months, with average delays of 87 minutes from Chicago one month, and up to 96 minutes on average from Baltimore another month. DOT’s “unrealistic or deceptive scheduling” rule states a flight is chronically delayed if it arrives more than 30 minutes late 50% of the time. In Southwest’s case, 19 out of 25 and 16 out of 27 Chicago departures were delayed some months. The DOT suit sought civil penalties of up to $37,377 for each of 58 separate delays. It should be noted that in January, DOT also settled similar charges with two smaller U.S. carriers—JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines—after they agreed to pay $2 million and $650,000, respectively.

When airlines repeatedly schedule chronically delayed flights, it severely disrupts the plans of tens of thousands of travelers flying for business, vacation, and family visits, and under military orders. But it also puts passengers at a disadvantage when such delays are attributed to outside ‘Force Majeure/Act of God’ factors, given that the airlines’ self-written Contracts of Carriage offer lesser accommodations and compensation in such cases.

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