American was able to achieve this strong performance despite weather in many parts of the country and a significant volume of non-scheduled, non-air carrier operations that resulted in increased air traffic control delays.
18.12.2023 - 23:03 / afar.com / Pete Buttigieg
Southwest Airlines canceled 16,900 flights and stranded more than 2 million fliers between December 2022 and early January 2023, as operations took a nosedive amid severe winter storms that disrupted holiday air travel across much of the United States last year. But while other major U.S. carriers recovered from the weather-fueled delays and cancellations, Southwest struggled to normalize operations and continued to cancel flights in the days following Christmas 2022. Now, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is making it very clear that that level of failed service comes with serious consequences.
“If airlines fail their passengers, we will use the full extent of our authority to hold them accountable,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement issued on December 18. “Taking care of passengers is not just the right thing to do—it’s required, and this penalty should put all airlines on notice to take every step possible to ensure that a meltdown like this never happens again.”
The agency imposed a $140 million civil penalty against Southwest for what it describes as “numerous violations of consumer protection laws during and after the operational failures . . . over the 2022 Christmas holiday and into the New Year.” The penalty is the largest ever such fine issued by the DOT, and the majority will be set aside for Southwest passengers who experience cancellations or major delays caused by the airline in the future.
John Breyault, vice president of public policy for the National Consumers League (NCL), a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, applauded the DOT’s action, stating that it “sends an unambiguous signal to the airline industry that passengers’ time is valuable and there will be consequences for carriers that waste it.”
According to Breyault, the hope is that travelers will be protected regardless of which airline they are flying with. “This will only happen if DOT enacts strong rules to ensure that consumers are compensated when flights are delayed or canceled, that refunds are processed without delay, and that unfair and deceptive practices and unfair methods of competition are policed vigorously,” stated Breyault.
The DOT argues that it has already made significant efforts to do just that, putting in place guidelines that airlines must follow for issuing passenger refunds and compensation and taking enforcement actions when necessary.
For instance, in September 2022, following a summer of sweeping travel-related chaos, it launched an interactive dashboard on its Aviation Consumer Protection website to better arm travelers with information on what they’re owed for flight cancellations and delays. The dashboard compares all the major domestic airlines’ policies on
American was able to achieve this strong performance despite weather in many parts of the country and a significant volume of non-scheduled, non-air carrier operations that resulted in increased air traffic control delays.
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Southwest Airlines experienced an epic meltdown last holiday season due to its outdated technology. Though it avoided any problems this year, there is still one issue it can’t avoid.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) anticipates that airport security checkpoints will be busier this winter holiday travel period compared to last year.Fortunately, the agency says it's prepared to meet the surging travel demand.The official end-of-the-year holiday travel period runs from Thursday, December 21 through Tuesday, January 2. TSA is projecting that the busiest days will be Thursday, December 21; Friday, December 29, and Monday, January 1.TSA said it expects to screen more than 2.5 million passengers each of those days, signaling a 6 percent increase from 2022. The busiest day last year was December 29, when officers screened nearly 2.4 million passengers nationwide.The projections come after the TSA screened nearly 30 million passengers during November's 12-day Thanksgiving holiday period. The agency broke the record for most passengers in a single day on Sunday, November 26, screening more than 2.9 million passengers at security checkpoints across the country."We are prepared to handle the busy passenger volumes this winter holiday season," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement."TSA’s continued success during this record year for travel is a direct result of teamwork, planning and professional execution across the agency, from our frontline employees to those behind the scenes; partnerships with airports and air carriers; and innovative checkpoint technologies that improve security effectiveness, efficiency and the passenger experience," he concluded.Industry trade group Airlines for America (A4A) projects that 39 million people will board flights in the U.S. between Wednesday, December 20 and Tuesday, January 2, for an average of 2.8 million passengers per day.
Southwest Airlines and its pilots’ union reached a preliminary labor agreement on Monday, ending three-and-a-half years of tense negotiations.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, December 19. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Southwest Airlines will be fined $140 million for violating customer protection laws during its 2022 holiday travel operations failure, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Monday morning.
The Department of Transportation has ordered Southwest to pay a $140 million fine for numerous consumer-protection violations that resulted from last year’s holiday travel meltdown.
With holiday travel coming up, travelers may be thinking back to last year, when a spate of severe winter storms grounded flights across the country just around Christmas, and an operational meltdown at Southwest Airlines dragged on for nearly a week after.